Thank you for posting this link. I was looking for something like it yesterday. I'm going to post it's contents here so I can bold a few things and add a few comments of my own.
A Stomach Flu is caused by the Norovirus which is also known as Norwalk Virus
Norovirus is a highly contagious virus but with easy and inexpensive precautions, it can be prevented.
Norovirus is NOT airborne. It CANNOT be transmitted merely by standing next to someone who has it, sneezing, saliva, urine, or blood. The virus DOES exist in vomit and feces only and is spread when someone who is sick has virus particles on their hands because they did not wash them after using the toilet or after vomiting and then touches a surface. That surface then becomes contaminated.
It is unclear exactly how long the norovirus lives on surfaces but according to the CDC, the virus may still live in someone’s feces up to 2 weeks after the symptoms of norovirus have subsided which means, they can still spread it after they are feeling better and after they returned to work or school.
What’s the best way to prevent getting Norovirus?
Wash your hands with plain soap and water after using the bathroom and before eating meals or touching your face. Make sure you wash every nook and cranny of your hands for at least 20 seconds. Plain soap does not kill anything but it washes the germs off of your hands and down the drain. Yes, it’s that easy. Good personal hygiene.
Hand Sanitizers
Washing your hands is the best defense but if you’re traveling, at the gym, or soap and water are unavailable; hand sanitizers are the second best method of preventing norovirus. Before going out and stocking up on Purell or any other product that labels themselves as an anti-bacterial claiming to kill 99.99% of germs, listen up!
Most of these gels, wipes, sprays or foams have alcohol based ingredients such as triclosan, ethanol, or ethy alcohol. While these products will kill 99.99% of the bacterias, they DO NOT kill viruses, nor do they claim to. Other issues with these ingredients is that alcohol based products are drying and there are safety concerns about using triclosan.
Benzethonium Chloride and Benzalkonium Chloride kill norovirus
Products with either of the above active ingredients WILL kill norovirus in addition to all of the bacterias Purell claims to kill. You can also find these ingredients in household cleaning products such as Lysol. Wet Ones brand wipes have Benzethonium Chloride as the active ingredient and it’s widely available in most stores.
If someone in your household is sick, clean the bathroom with a disinfectant and any other place they may have spent a lot of time in and don’t forget the door knobs and light switches. Show them this blog and convince them to repeatedly wash their hands after doing their bathroom business so as not to spread to anyone else. Keep them home from work or school until they are feeling completely better, usually a couple of days. One of the main reasons norovirus spreads in offices is because those struck with it, don’t want to take the time off from their jobs.
A few things to think about, which I stress with my own family.
Washing and sanitizing hands is a must. But what we must remember is, between washes, to keep our hands away from our faces, especially our mouths. You don't realize that touching just about anything is going to give you germs on your hands and once they get to your mouth, you're infected. We
know this about how this germ is transmitted. For those who are wondering how they got it? Well this is how.
The nasty reality is that, as a GI bug, it goes from someone else's GI track to yours.
So wash hands, sanitize, and learn to keep your hands away from your face and mouth. This is especially true for children, but even adults not aware of how germs are transmitted. Stress it constantly with your family.
The other thing I do for my own family which I haven't seen anywhere is to make sure their nails are kept short and clean. A whole host of germs can live under long or dirty nails even when you wash your hands. I keep my own short as well. (And you can imagine on long, acrylic nails - we actually have a hospital policy against them [and even chipped nail polish] as they've been found to be the source of disease before.)
PPs touched on it but I'm going to say it again. Be very careful in bathrooms. There is an absolutely enormous concentration of GI germs here. There's no point in washing your hands and then grabbing the dirty door handle with your clean hand. Think about it - people who don't wash their hands go directly from the stall with infected hands and what's the first thing they touch to get out? The exit door handle. That is literally loaded with germs. (And btw, so is the latch on the stall itself - DO NOT touch it!) Use a paper towel to touch
anything after you wash your hands.
As for restaurants, even if you wash the table, remember that there are germs underneath and on the sides. So if you go to move the table or the chairs, clean your hands again before you eat. Don't let your kids touch anything else while they're eating.
Basically, germs in an outbreak like this are EVERYWHERE. So again, wash, sanitize, and keep hands away from your face.
I am not a germophobe but I am a hospital nurse so I live by these practices every day. We are counseled in infection control issues once a month, sometimes more during germ "seasons". I've taught my children these practices but, as kids, I still see that sometimes they're not as careful as they should be. Sometimes in my house, everyone's sick but me, in fact it's been the case this week.
(Fortunately just a small head cold.) But it does help drive home the lesson that with good hygiene practices, people have a better chance of staying healthy. (With that said, I did contract Norwalk virus two winters ago and I was quite p'd at myself.)
Having done several Disney cruises myself, it's been interesting to watch their hygiene practices over time. In 2004, I recall them having wipes as an "option" when entering the dining rooms. Very few people used them. (I watched with interest.) In 2006, they were handing them out to everyone as you entered the dining rooms. Better. But what I didn't like was that the stainless trash cans they had to throw away your wipe afterward were the "swinging top kind" and the swinging doors were filthy. So you washed with a wipe, and then touched the dirty trash can top to throw it away.
I did talk to one of the officers on the ship about it and mentioned it in the comment card. The other thing DH saw one day was a Dad in the men's room outside the dining room take his child for a BM and neither of them washed their hands, then walked right into the dining room for dinner.
(Sorry, not ranking on Dads, but just to illustrate, it happens so you need to protect
yourself.)
Hope this helps someone. Stay well, everyone!
This was his regular routine, apparently, and one can presume he did the same thing in the men's room. So this meant that every supermarket employee, even those who diligently washed their hands, got a hearty batch of germs on their hands if they then touched the faucet handles after they washed. Said employees then went out and cut your meat, sliced your deli, boxed your muffins, bagged your produce, rang your order, touched your packages, etc. (To this day, DH and I refer to this man as Typhoid Sammy. 
