Viral gastro occurs when viruses are taken in by mouth. Airborne droplets may be formed when a person vomits or has diarrhoea. These droplets can also contaminate surfaces with viral particles. Drinking contaminated water or consuming food grown in, washed with or prepared with contaminated water. Eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated fluids.
People can also briefly carry the viruses which cause viral gastro without having any symptoms.
These people can still pass the disease on to others. If you have symptoms of gastro, consider seeing your doctor. Some types of gastro may be diagnosed readily from a faecal sample, other types may require more specialised tests. Although there is no specific treatment for viral gastro, your doctor can help relieve the ill effects caused by some of the symptoms. As viral gastro is very infectious, it is advisable that people with symptoms should not work and children should not attend child care centres, kindergartens or schools until 48 hours after symptoms have stopped.