The Many types of Stomach Virus
Various Kinds of Stomach Viruses
Everyone gets annoyed by stomach problems every now and then. Sometimes we get afflicted by the dreaded stomach flu caused by stomach viruses. Find out what stomach viruses are by reading through this informative and helpful medical article intended to educate people about these microorganisms.
Normally, people would think that stomach viruses affect the stomach which turns out to be erroneous.
“Stomach” viruses actually enter the intestines and wreak havoc which causes people to suffer gastroenteritis or the so-called stomach flu.
The Many Types of Stomach Viruses
There is not just one type of stomach virus that affects the body. There are a lot of them, and we will discuss them here in this article.
The rotavirus is the most common culprit in stomach flu. It primarily affects children as old as 5 years old. When a child is affected with the rotavirus, he or she vomits or has water diarrhea for 3 days or until a week. Some cases include fever and abdominal pain. It usually strikes between November to April the next year. It takes 1 or 2 days before the effects of the rotavirus appear.
The adenovirus has several strains that affect several parts of the body, and only one strain is associated with diarrhea. Unlike the rotavirus, it takes a week for the symptoms to start bothering the victim. It can also attack anytime all year round. It also affects children, but those aged below 2 years.
These strains of stomach viruses are different from the previous two, because it affects both children and adults. There are four types of calciviruses and the most common among these is the norovirus. Noroviruses are notorious for causing outbreaks of the stomach flu in people of all ages, and is known to attack between October to April.
Noroviruses afflict the most severe of symptoms for victims of their onslaught. People who contract noroviruses will suffer nausea, diarrhea, fatigue and headaches. In some cases, they may also have muscle pains. These symptoms appear 1 to 3 days after contracting the virus.
Astroviruses are similar to calciviruses because they affect people of all ages, but it is active only during the winter months. Like the calciviruses, these stomach viruses cause people to display symptoms 1 to 3 days after being exposed.
How the Effects of Stomach Viruses Are Treated
There is no instant treatment for the symptoms of stomach viruses. The only thing that you can do is to ride and weather them out. That means you have to stop taking in food as this could cause the stomach to become more upset. Drink it minimal amounts of water, just enough not to cause vomiting. You may drink non-prescription at the dose that is recommended in the medicine packaging.