Flu and Norovirus hitting hard this season
Posted January 5, 2013 9:10 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Flu numbers continue to spike across the province – but there are two distinct viruses hitting people hard.
An especially nasty strain of Norovirus has already hit Vancouver General and Royal Columbian Hospitals.
Dr. Danuta Skowronski with the BC Centre of Disease Control says you’ll know pretty quick if you have it or the flu.
“Influenza virus when your ill, it’s typically a week and sometimes a cough can last longer. With Norovirus, you’re vomiting and have diarrhea for 24 to 48 hours. You’re basically puking your face off for about 24 to 48 hours but then it goes away.”
Skowronski says Norovirus, first found in Sydney Australia, hits harder and quicker than the flu.
“A very short onset and a short duration of illness, whereas influenza mostly causes fever and cough symptoms and generally last longer than Norovirus symptoms.”
This years Norovirus outbreak is already double the number from last winter and at the highest level since 2006.
