Do I have a stomach “flu” ?

I’m a preschool teacher and last Tuesday one of my students threw up, and I cleaned it up. The next couple of days I had a fever, headache and diarhea. I was extremely exhausted. Since Friday I have had severe stomach pain and I’ve been throwing up everything I eat, which it hasn’t been much. It just doesn’t feel like the “flu” though the symptoms are similar, my stomack hurts more than a normal flu. Also at times I don’t feel too bad, like I’m better but then the pain comes back. It’s hurting in the upper stomach area. My throat is a little sore but not too bad. I’m not pregnant. So is this just the flu?

First off, the flu is a respiratory disease and does not affect your gastrointestinal tract.

Now, it sounds like you have a case of gastroenteritis, which could be caused by a virus or a bacterium. Viral gastroenteritis is more commonly called the “stomach flu”, which is kind of a misnomer since the flu is technically a respiratory disease and is caused by the influenza virus. Viral gastroenteritis is caused by a variety of viruses, none of them the influenza. So technically there is no such thing as the stomach “flu”. Bacterial gastroenteritis is usually caused by eating contaminated food (food poisoning).

You probably have a case of viral gastroenteritis. It is common for these viruses to be spread in schools (especially elementary/preschool). As a preschool teacher, you have a higher chance of being exposed to it by, for example, cleaning up vomit. Usually gastroenteritis will resolve itself in a day or two but can last up to a week.

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