A number of Irish hospitals have introduced visitor restrictions due to outbreaks of the so called winter vomiting bug. This is a particularly unpleasant and highly contagious Norovirus infection resulting in acute gastroenteritis within 12 to 48 hours after infection (good hand hygiene is crucial!).
Its signature symptoms are acute onset vomiting, watery diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, and nausea, often accompanied by myalgia, malaise and headache. Certainly not something you would want to suffer through if there was any way to avoid it. So what can we do if we find ourselves or our family members developing those symptoms? Not much according to most Irish doctors as it seems they are convinced there is no treatment for it outside of bed and rehydration. Luckily that’s not entirely true.