Most people get over norovirus within one to three days. There’s no antiviral medication that kills it, so recovery comes down to managing symptoms, staying hydrated, and waiting it out. The good news is that the acute misery is short-lived, even if it doesn’t feel that way at 3 a.m.
Symptoms typically hit 12 to 48 hours after exposure: sudden vomiting, watery diarrhea, nausea, stomach cramps, and sometimes a low fever or body aches. The worst of it usually peaks within the first 24 hours.
Hydration Is the Single Most Important Thing
Norovirus causes rapid fluid loss through vomiting and diarrhea, and dehydration is the main reason people end up needing medical care. Your priority during the worst of it is replacing what you’re losing. Adults should aim for roughly three liters of oral rehydration fluids per day when symptoms are active. For children, one liter per day is the general target, and for babies and toddlers, about half a liter.
Oral rehydration solutions (sold under names like Pedialyte, Naturalyte, and CeraLyte) work better than plain water because they replace both fluids and electrolytes. If you can’t keep large amounts down, take small, frequent sips rather than gulping. A few tablespoons every five minutes is more effective than drinking a full glass and vomiting it back up. Broth, diluted juice, and ice chips can supplement, but a proper rehydration solution should be your main fluid source.
What to Eat During and After
You’ll probably have zero appetite for the first day or so, and that’s fine. But once your appetite returns, even partially, research shows there’s no benefit to following a restricted diet. You can go back to your normal foods. Most experts no longer recommend the old “BRAT diet” (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) as a strict protocol, though those foods are certainly easy on the stomach if that’s what appeals to you.
That said, a few things can genuinely make diarrhea worse while your gut is still recovering:
- Caffeine from coffee, tea, and some soft drinks
- High-fat foods like fried foods, pizza, and fast food
- Sugary drinks including fruit juices and sweetened beverages
- Dairy products, because some people have trouble digesting lactose for up to a month after a norovirus infection
For infants, continue breast milk or formula as usual. Don’t dilute formula or switch to a special diet unless directed by a pediatrician.
Over-the-Counter Medications
Anti-diarrheal medication and anti-nausea medication can help manage symptoms while the virus runs its course. These won’t shorten the illness, but they can make the worst hours more bearable, especially if you need to sleep or keep fluids down. Beyond that, there’s no specific treatment. Antibiotics don’t work against viruses, and no antiviral exists for norovirus.
When Symptoms Need Medical Attention
Most healthy adults recover at home without complications. But dehydration can become dangerous quickly, particularly in young children, older adults, pregnant women, and anyone with a weakened immune system. Seek medical care if you notice any of the following in yourself or someone you’re caring for:
- Mental state changes like unusual irritability, confusion, or extreme fatigue
- Diarrhea lasting more than two days (more than one day in children)
- Frequent vomiting that prevents you from keeping fluids down
- Six or more loose stools per day
- High fever
- Severe abdominal or rectal pain
- Blood or pus in stools, or stools that look black and tarry
Signs of dehydration itself include dark urine, dry mouth, dizziness when standing, and producing very few tears when crying (in children). If oral rehydration solutions aren’t working or you simply can’t keep anything down, you may need IV fluids at a clinic or hospital.
You’re Still Contagious After You Feel Better
This catches a lot of people off guard. You can continue spreading norovirus for two weeks or more after your symptoms resolve. The virus keeps shedding in your stool even when you feel completely normal. This matters most for food preparation, shared bathrooms, and close contact with vulnerable people like the elderly or very young children.
Handwashing with soap and water is significantly more effective against norovirus than hand sanitizer. While high-concentration alcohol-based sanitizers (85% ethanol) do reduce the virus on hands, none of the products tested in controlled studies completely eliminated it. Standard sanitizers with 60 to 70% alcohol perform only modestly. Soap and water remains the gold standard, especially after using the bathroom and before handling food.
Cleaning Your Home After Norovirus
Norovirus is notoriously hard to kill on surfaces. Standard household cleaners and antibacterial wipes often aren’t enough. The CDC recommends using a chlorine bleach solution: 5 to 25 tablespoons of regular household bleach (5% to 8% concentration) per gallon of water. Apply it to contaminated surfaces and leave it on for at least five minutes before wiping. Alternatively, use a disinfecting product specifically registered by the EPA as effective against norovirus (this will be stated on the label).
Focus on bathrooms, door handles, light switches, faucets, and any surfaces near where the sick person was resting. Wash contaminated clothing and linens on the longest, hottest cycle your machine offers.
Can You Get Norovirus Again?
Yes, and you probably will at some point. After recovering, you develop immunity to the specific strain that infected you, but that protection typically lasts only six months to two years. There are many different norovirus strains circulating, and infection with one provides little cross-protection against the others. It’s unlikely you’d catch the same strain again immediately after recovering, since your antibody levels are highest right after infection, but susceptibility builds back up over weeks. Getting norovirus multiple times over a lifetime is completely normal.