Stomach Flu Hits Many In Metro Detroit

You say you just feel like crawling into bed, pulling the covers up over your head and going to sleep until it's over?  Chances are you've got the stomach bug that's going around Metro Detroit, wreaking havoc with holiday revelry.

Dr. Parag Patel, family medicine specialist at Beaumont Hospital, says many people are coming down with a noro-like intestinal virus, characterized by vomiting, diarrhea and general misery. Not uncommon this time of year.

"It's a time of year when people get together so we normally see a little bit of an uptick this time of year of anything like this that's going around as we're getting together for office parties, our families are getting together," Dr. Patel said.

Patel says this virus shouldn't be confused with influenza.

He says people "get frustrated because they got their flu shot but they still got the stomach bug, but I think it's that term 'stomach flu' that confuses people.  We haven't seen too much true influenza that you get the flu shot for."
 
Patel says your best defense against the sickness is frequent hand washing.  The virus is transmitted hand-to-mouth.