You’ve heard it before: norovirus, sometimes called the stomach bug or stomach flu, catching families by surprise and making days miserable.
“It’s terrible because it starts with one person, and then slowly, everybody starts getting it, and you are so sick,” said Kara Harlow.
Harlow and her daughter know the worst of it.
“Actually, last year when she had it, we ended up in the hospital because she was so dehydrated. We like couldn’t keep enough fluids in her,” she said.
The CDC told ABC Action News this year that the number of reported norovirus outbreaks has exceeded the numbers that they’ve seen recently and in the years before the pandemic.
“At our AdventHealth Centra Cares, we have seen an increase in symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea,” said Dr. Timothy Hendrix, the Medical Director of AdventHealth Centra Care. “It started at the end of November and have been ramping up since then, so yes, we are seeing norovirus. That’s the most likely culprit.”
Dr. Hendrix said this virus spreads very easily from person to person.