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Ways To Prevent Stomach Virus Or Viral Gastroenteritis

To be familiar with what you should do to avoid stomach flu, you need to be knowledgeable about the causes of stomach flu and why it is so contagious.

Stomach flu, which is referred to as viral gastroenteritis or just gastroenteritis by health care professionals, is actually caused by a virus and so is not really a form of influenza. Regardless, the the term stomach flu is usually used by the general public and has become universally established. The words stomach virus, stomach flu, gastroenteritis and viral gastroenteritis will all refer to the same illness in this article.

Viral gastroenteritis begins when one of a number of stomach flu viruses finds a way into the digestive tract - frequently through the mouth. A stomach virus can float on currents of air throughout your home or work area. If there is someone in your home who has come down with viral gastroenteritis, you can be certain the viruses are circulating, landing on areas that are often touched by humans. Preventing stomach flu begins with cleaning and disinfecting such areas to keep them sanitized.

A stomach virus can also transfer directly from one person to another. You can contract gastroenteritis simply by touching, kissing, or shaking hands with an infected person, even if they don't have the symptoms yet.

Eating anything that has been touched by a person who is infected is another way of getting stomach flu. This is one of the reasons many public health inspectors insist on strict hand-washing practices by restaurant workers. In your home, you should also make sure you don't share eating utensils, drinking glasses, or napkins with anyone who is sick. Clothing worn by these persons ought to be laundered as soon as possible.

Some foods may already have the virus when you get them. An example is shellfish, which sometimes is collected from waters that have been contaminated by sewage. If you swim in lakes or streams, try not to get water in your mouth because it could be contaminated by a stomach flu virus.

Frequent and repeated hand washing is your first line of defense against stomach virus. The point is to wash germs off your hands before you touch your mouth, which is something most people do unconsciously many times a day. Hand washing is particularly necessary before you eat, or after you have been using the bathroom or changing a diaper. Make sure you keep your hands under running water for at least 20 seconds and use soap freely.

Be sure to wash your hands after you've touched doors and door handles in a public place where many people come in and go out - especially restrooms, conference areas and classrooms. Better yet, try not to touch doors or bathroom faucets with your bare hands. Make use of a clean paper hand towel if you can to get a barrier between your skin and germs.

In recent years, a variety of alcohol-based hand washing gels have come on the market, and they give defense against some types of stomach viruses, but not all. They should not be considered a dependable method of stomach virus prevention.

A person with stomach flu definitely shouldn't prepare food for other family members. If you frequently make meals for anyone, you should wait about three days after your symptoms are gone before you start cooking again. This is not always practical of course.

Gastroenteritis prevention takes some planning. It takes time to keep germs off floors, sinks, countertops and other places in your home or work area. There are a variety of commercial disinfectants that are good at neutralizing the major types of stomach viruses, and you should read the labels carefully when you decide to use them. You can make your own disinfectant solution if you mix some bleach with water - a 50-1 ratio of water to bleach.

At the moment, two kinds of vaccines have been approved for preventing stomach flu, but they don't work against every type of the virus. Talk to your doctor if you want to know more about these vaccines.

Learn more about stomach virus prevention by clicking on avoiding stomach flu. You can access dozens of articles about coping with stomach trouble by clicking on stomach problems.