Doctor explains norovirus symptoms

Complete interview with Dr. Alex Henri.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there is an alarming spike in Norovirus cases across the country, but the San Antonio Metro Health said that’s not the case for San Antonio.

“Is extremely contagious. It's one of the most contagious infections on the planet, it takes a very little bit of virus for an infection to get established. It lasts a long time when it touches services and it spreads really easily from person to person,” said Dr. Alex Henri, who is a pediatrician with Christus Children’s.

Dr. Henri said norovirus outbreaks are common.

Chief Medical Officer at University Health, Dr. Bryan Alsip, said the symptoms will make it easy to tell that you caught the virus.

“Symptoms can be like you find with other viruses, like fever or sometimes aches and pains, but primarily it's nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and so forth, and so those are the primary symptoms,” said Dr. Alsip.

We reached out to San Antonio Metro Health to ask how many cases have been reported in San Antonio. The department told us there are some cases but not enough to cause concern.

The department sent us a statement that reads in part:

“Local health departments are not required to report cases of norovirus unless there is an outbreak. Bexar County has not had a reported outbreak...”

“If you just have a little bit of diarrhea or a couple of episodes of vomiting, and otherwise you've been able to drink liquids, okay, and stay hydrated, that's all right to watch at home. But if you're worried that you're getting really dehydrated you can't keep any liquids down, are you just losing so much liquids that you can't keep up? Then that's probably the time to get seen,” said Dr. Henri.

Dr. Henri said most healthy adults who catch the virus won’t need to see a doctor, but parents should keep an eye on children who have it.

“It's important in norovirus to note that using soap and water is really the best way because the alcohol-based hand sanitizers that we often use frequently doesn't work very well against norovirus,” said Dr. Alsip.

Dr. Alsip said the best way to avoid the virus is by washing your hands.

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