Stomach Flu Symptoms

What is stomach flu?

Stomach flu is also called as gastroenteritis. This is a condition which causes inflammation and irritation of the stomach and the intestines. Diarrhea, abdominal pains, crampy nausea, and the vomiting are the very common stomach flu symptoms.

Stomach flu is caused because of the viral infection but the parasites, bacteria and the food borne illness are also sometimes responsible for causing the stomach flu.

Causes of stomach flu:

There are many causes for the stomach flu but the most common are viruses and bacteria.

Viruses and bacteria are extremely infectious and may spreads through the water and food. Improper hand washing and diaper handling are the ways of spreading disease form one person to another.

The stomach flu caused because of viruses lasts after one or two days but caused because of bacteria takes longer period of time to cure.

Viruses:

50 to 70 percent of stomach flu in adults may cause because of noroviruses. Rotavirus affects to the children.

The viruses responsible for causing the stomach flu, damages the cells in lining of small intestine. The result of this, fluid leaks from the cells and goes in to the intestine which creates watery diarrhea. Four types of viruses are responsible for causing the stomach flu as given below:

Rotavirus: The children 3-15 months old can affected because of this virus and causes diarrhea to the children below five years old. Rotavirus infection symptoms appear 1-2 days after the experience. Watery diarrhea and vomiting can cause for 3-8 days with the abdominal pain and fever. The adults can also get affected with the rotaviruses that are very close to the infected children but the symptoms are very mild.
Adenovirus: The children under the age of two years get affected by this virus. Of the 49 types of the adenoviruses, one strain affects gastrointestinal tract causing the diarrhea and vomiting. Symptoms appear after the one week of exposure.
Caliciviruses: This virus causes infection to all the people of different age. Calicivirus divided into the four types, the noroviruses is very common type and mostly responsible for infecting to the people. It responsible for epidemics for the stomach flu and occurs mostly in October to April. Symptoms are headache, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhea or some times muscle aches. Symptoms appear within 1-3 days after the infection.
Astrovirus: This virus affects to the infants, elderly or young children. At the time of winter, this virus gets active. Symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting appear within 1-3 days after infection.

Bacteria:

Bacteria directly affects on the stomach walls and the intestine. Some bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus may create the toxin which causes the stomach flu symptoms. For the food poisioning staph is responsible.

Stomach flu symptoms:

Common symptoms may include:

Low grade fever to 100�F (37.7�C)
Mild-to-moderate diarrhea:
Nausea with or without vomiting
Crampy painful abdominal bloating

More serious symptoms:

Fever higher than 101�F (40�C)
Vomiting more than 48 hours
Swollen abdomen or abdominal pain
Blood in vomit or stool
Dehydration - weakness, decreased urination, lightheadedness, dry skin, dry mouth and lack of sweat and tears are characteristic findings.

Diagnosis of stomach flu:

For diagnosing the stomach flu doctor may ask the medical history of the patient or the other questions such as: :

Symptoms
Current medications
Current medical conditions
Family history of any medical conditions
Recent food and liquid consumption.
Recent travel history

The doctor will also usually perform a physical exam, looking for signs and symptoms of stomach flu.

If the stomach flu symptoms are persist for the long duration then doctor tests the blood and stool for determining the causes of the diarrhea and vomiting.

For diagnosing the stomach flu, doctor will take the medical history of the patient such as:

Travel history: Travel may advise parasite infection or E. coli bacterial infection occurs from eating or drinking something.
Exposure to poisons or other irritants: Drinking from distrustful fresh water as like mountain streams or the wells or Swimming in contaminated water may point out infection from the Giardia which causes the diarrhea.
Diet change, food preparation habits, and storage: Stomach flu symptoms caused because of bacteria become obvious after following amount of time:
- Staphylococcus aureus in 2-6 hours
- Salmonella in 12-72 hours
- Clostridium 8-10 hours
Medications: If the patient has used multiple antibiotics or broad-spectrum just, they can have antibiotic associated irritation of gastrointestinal tract.

Treatment of stomach flu:

Many of the cases of stomach resolve over the time without getting proper treatment. For the viral infection, antibiotics are not effective. The primary goal of the treatment is to minimize the stomach flu symptoms and punctual treatment prevents the dehydration.

Fluid is very useful for proper functioning of the body. Dehydration is the condition in which body looses the fluid. The electrolytes such as minerals and salts can also be loosed with the fluid. Dehydration may cause because of vomiting, diarrhea, excessive sweating, excessive urination, or not drinking the enough fluids due to nausea, loss of appetite or the difficulty swallowing.

The dehydration symptoms are given below:

Excessive thirst
Little or no urine or dark yellow urine
Dry mouth
Decreased tears
Dizziness or lightheadedness
Severe weakness or lethargy

When these symptoms are shown then consult the doctor. Drinking liquid is the treatment for mild dehydration. Severe dehydration can need hospitalization and intravenous fluids. It is sometimes becomes life threatening when it is untreated.

Children are at the great risk of the dehydration because of their small body and also because of vomiting and diarrhea. Padialyte which is oral solution may replace lost salts, minerals and fluids.

The following steps are very important for relieving the stomach flu:

Allow the gastrointestinal tract to resolve by not eating for the some hours.
If vomiting is problem then sip small amounts of the clear liquids or the suck on the ice chips.
Give children and infants oral rehydration solutions for replacing fluids and the lost electrolytes.
Reintroduce the food, starting with the bland, easy to digest such as broth, toast, apples, rice and the bananas.
Avoid caffeine, dairy products, and the alcohol until the completion of recovery.
Get lot of rest.

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