Stomach Flu - Symptoms, Causes and Remedies

Before we get to discuss the problems surrounding stomach flu and understand the causes of this disease, it is really critical to understand what it is. The cells surrounding the small intestine get infected with the virus and undergo damage. They start producing leaky fluid like substance which in turn results in watery stools. This is often given the term dehydration or diarrhea. Sometimes this becomes very severe that the infected person gets stuck to the toilet continuously for days.

As such, dehydration proves to be one of the most visible stomach flu symptoms on date.

Infection Causing Agents

Now that we have an idea on the flu symptoms, it is good to know about the infection causing agents when it comes to this infection.

Rotavirus is the major cause of stomach flu in children under the age of 5. If rotavirus infects the intestinal walls of kids, they suffer from symptoms that include fever, vomiting and dehydration which can prolong for a period of 2-5 days. In case of adults, the symptoms are definitely mild and the disease is rarely acute.

Norovirus is yet another virus that can cause this disease. This belongs to the group of calcivirus. To be really visible, it takes at least 3 days for the infection to really show up in the form of fever, fatigue, vomiting, headache or prolonged muscle aches within the system. This is very analogous to astrovirus which is again a flu causing agent in humans. The only difference between the above 2 viruses is the fact that the latter is utterly contagious and affects people with reduced immunity.

Adnovirus has also proven to be a stomach flu causing agent in case of infants under 2 years of age.

Possible Measures To get rid of Stomach Flu

Since we already have an idea of stomach flu symptoms and the viruses that cause this disease, it is really important that we understand that we cannot do anything much to get out of it till it runs its course. But we can always try to alleviate the distress caused by this health problem.

There can be times when a person may not be ill due to flu but still has the ability to pass on this virus to the next person. Getting infected and undergoing the distress depends on the unique nature of the individual's system.

Just follow the following tips and try alleviating the pain caused due to stomach flu with ease

- Make sure you take complete rest since you would loose much from your body due to the dehydration process that had set in
- Drink as much fluids as possible. The diarrhea would have drained the fluids in your system. So opt for electrolyte of glucose. This can boost your energy level and can also get back your fluid levels to normal.
- Ensure that you keep yourself clean. Wash your hands before and after meals. If you change diapers make sure you wash them soon after that. This would help in preventing the spread of this infection with ease.