# What was this virus?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-virus/380156>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 12, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-virus/380156 "2006-11-12T22:07:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-virus/380156/1 "2006-11-12T22:07:10Z")

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My whole family had it, and I’m just getting over it. I had a flu shot a month ago; don’t know if that’s pertinent or not.

Starts off with achiness and fatigue. It caused all of us to puke our guts out on the first day; the baby was barfing for days.

It gave me the shits for about 5 days, too. Just about the worst diarrhea I’ve ever had except for campilobacter poisoning.

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-virus/380156/2 "2006-11-13T02:32:59Z")

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It could be one of the rotoviruses, like Norwalk. They are very contagious. Meticulous hand washing is the one preventative.

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**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-virus/380156/3 "2006-11-13T03:32:08Z")

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[QUOTE=picunurse]  
It could be one of the rotoviruses, like Norwalk. They are very contagious. Meticulous hand washing is the one preventative.  
[/QUOTE]  
That’s what I was going to suggest, too. My daughter had it last year, and it was truly awful. Our pediatrician said it’s so contagious, my husband and I must have had it as kids, or we probably would have caught it from her.