Stomach Flu Season?

I have been meaning to write a blog post about this subject, but something happened yesterday that spurred me into action. I was watching the Outback Bowl, and saw my alma mater, the mighty Bulldogs of the University of Georgia, go down in 3 overtimes to Michigan State University. After the game, as I was sitting there in stunned silence wondering how we could blow a 16-0 lead at halftime, my local TV station cut to their previously scheduled programming, already in progress. It was an episode of The Doctors (click here for the episode summary), and it cut into a segment on foodborne illness, although they didn't exactly call it that. They were talking about gastroenteritis, also known as the "stomach flu."

Those who have been in one of my food safety classes will know that this is a personal pet peeve of mine. There is no such thing as the "stomach flu," and I will prove it.

First of all, in credit to The Doctors, they did give good advice about gastroenteritis. The few times I have seen the show I have liked it. My gripe (mild pun here, la grippe is French for flu) is with the use of the term "stomach flu" and I don't think that good medical professionals, public health professionals, or food safety professionals should be using this term or any of the similar terms. You have heard these terms before: 24 hour flu, intestinal virus, etc.

Why am I all worked up about this issue? Because we are improperly identifying the cause of the illness. I don't think that we recognize foodborne illness properly and when we pass it off as just a "stomach flu" we are giving a free pass to a food establishment that may have made us sick or to our own bad kitchen practices. I think we need to properly recognize what is causing all of these illnesses so that we can stop making ourselves sick.

I am going to go ahead and give away the conclusion: the flu is a respiratory illness with respiratory symptoms and foodborne illness or gastroenteritis is an illness of the digestive system.

What is the flu? The word flu is short for influenza. Influenza is a virus that cause a disease similar to, but more severe than, the common cold.

Let's compare symptoms. According to the CDC and the web site www.flu.gov here are the symptoms of the flu, or as you may often hear, "flu like symptoms."
Fever or feeling feverish/chills
Cough
Sore throat
Runny or stuffy nose
Headaches, muscle aches, or body aches
Fatigue
May have vomiting and/or diarrhea

You can trust me when I say that cough, sore throat, and runny or stuffy nose are not symptoms of foodborne illness. If you don't believe me, go to the FDA's Bad Bug Book and read all of the symptoms of all of the foodborne illnesses. You will see that foodborne illness typically attacks the gastrointestinal symptom, although some foodborne toxins will attack the nervous system. You can get a fever from most infections.

Here is an easy way to see if it is the real flu or "stomach" flu. The next time someone tells you they have a stomach flu (or 24 hour flu or whatever they call it) ask about their symptoms. If they don't have any respiratory symptoms, they don't have the real flu, caused by influenza. What they have is a foodborne illness.

Let's also put to rest the term 24 hour flu. How long did it take you to get over your last bout with the flu? Probably around 7-10 days. You can take NyQuil, but all it does it help you sleep so that your body can fight the virus. There are newer anti-viral drugs that can shave a day or two off of your pain and suffering, but ultimately there is no such thing as the 24 hour flu.

The discussion of how long it takes to get over the flu always reminds me of a great episode of one of the all time great TV shows, The Beverly Hillbillies. In "The Common Cold", Granny tries to cure Mr. Drysdale's cold. It turns out that Granny's cure is the same as what everyone already knows, it takes 7-10 days to get over a cold.

So please, let's call a foodborne illness what it is. No more "stomach flu."


Extra reference: WebMD has a great article about the difference between influenza and the stomach flu. Read it at this link.