There is no cure for norovirus. No antiviral medication targets it, and antibiotics do nothing against it. Treatment is entirely about managing symptoms, replacing lost fluids, and waiting it out. Most healthy adults recover within one to three days, but young children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems face a higher risk of dangerous dehydration.
Fluids Are the Most Important Treatment
Dehydration is the main threat norovirus poses, and replacing fluids is the single most important thing you can do. For adults, that means sipping water, broth, or an oral rehydration solution (like Pedialyte or store-bought ORS) throughout the day. Take small, frequent sips rather than large gulps, especially if you’re still vomiting. Drinks with high sugar content, including fruit juice and regular soda, can actually pull more water into the intestines and make diarrhea worse.
For children, fluid replacement needs to be more deliberate. Kids under 10 kg (about 22 pounds) should get 2 to 4 ounces of oral rehydration solution after each episode of vomiting or watery stool. Children over 10 kg need 4 to 8 ounces per episode. If a child is mildly to moderately dehydrated, the CDC recommends giving 50 to 100 mL of ORS per kilogram of body weight over two to four hours to catch up on the deficit. Commercial oral rehydration solutions are strongly preferred over homemade versions, because getting the salt-to-sugar ratio wrong at home can cause serious problems.
Sports drinks are better than nothing for adults but contain more sugar and less sodium than ORS. They’re not ideal for young children.
What to Eat During Recovery
You don’t need to follow a special diet. Once your appetite starts returning, go back to eating your normal foods, even if diarrhea hasn’t fully resolved. The old advice about sticking strictly to bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast (the BRAT diet) isn’t considered necessary anymore. The same applies to children: give them what they usually eat as soon as they’re willing.
That said, some foods and drinks tend to make diarrhea worse while your gut is still irritated. Sweetened beverages, greasy or fried foods, and high-sugar items are common culprits. Bland, easy-to-digest meals (crackers, soup, plain pasta) are fine starting points if richer foods don’t sit well yet.
Over-the-Counter Medications
Anti-diarrheal medications like loperamide (Imodium) and bismuth subsalicylate (Pepto-Bismol) can reduce the frequency of diarrhea in adults. However, if you have a fever or bloody diarrhea, skip these entirely. Those symptoms suggest a bacterial or parasitic infection rather than norovirus, and anti-diarrheal medications can make those conditions worse.
Neither medication is considered safe for infants and young children without a doctor’s guidance. For children who can’t stop vomiting long enough to keep fluids down, doctors sometimes prescribe an anti-nausea medication. In clinical trials, a single dose cut the risk of continued vomiting in the emergency department by roughly 60% and reduced the need for IV fluids by more than half. The most common side effect was a mild, temporary increase in diarrhea.
Signs of Dehydration to Watch For
In adults, warning signs include extreme thirst, dark-colored urine, urinating much less than usual, dizziness or lightheadedness, sunken eyes, and skin that stays “tented” when you pinch and release it rather than flattening back immediately.
In infants and young children, the signs are slightly different. Watch for no wet diapers for three hours or more, no tears when crying, a dry mouth, sunken eyes, and unusual sleepiness or lack of energy. Young children can dehydrate quickly, and severe dehydration can become a medical emergency within hours.
How Long You’re Contagious
Norovirus is extraordinarily contagious, and you remain infectious far longer than most people realize. The virus continues shedding in stool for two weeks or more after you feel completely better. The CDC recommends staying home for at least 48 hours after your last symptom resolves. If you work in food preparation or healthcare, that 48-hour window is especially important to follow strictly.
Why Soap Matters More Than Hand Sanitizer
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are largely ineffective against norovirus. In laboratory testing, ethanol-based sanitizers reduced the virus on hands by only about 0.3 log (roughly halving it), regardless of alcohol concentration. Washing with soap and water performed significantly better, achieving roughly a tenfold reduction. Even rinsing with plain water outperformed hand sanitizer in these tests. The physical action of lathering and rinsing is what removes the virus from skin, so wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, particularly after using the bathroom and before touching food.
Cleaning Contaminated Surfaces
Norovirus survives on surfaces and resists many common household cleaners. Chlorine bleach is the most reliable disinfectant. OSHA recommends three different concentrations depending on the situation:
- Items that touch food or mouths (utensils, toys): 1 tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water
- Most hard surfaces (countertops, doorknobs, toilets): 1/3 cup of bleach per gallon of water
- Heavily contaminated surfaces (where vomit or stool landed directly): 1 and 2/3 cups of bleach per gallon of water
Leave the bleach solution on the surface for 10 to 20 minutes before rinsing with clean water. Clean up any vomit or stool with disposable towels first, wearing gloves, and immediately bag and discard them. Wash contaminated laundry (bedding, towels, clothing) on the longest, hottest cycle your machine offers, and dry on high heat.
Protecting Others in Your Household
Because the virus spreads so easily, containing it within a household takes real effort. Use a separate bathroom if possible. Don’t prepare food for others while you’re sick or for at least two days after recovery. Disinfect shared surfaces like light switches, faucet handles, and toilet flush levers daily with the bleach solution described above. If someone in the house is vomiting, tiny airborne droplets can carry the virus several feet, so clean well beyond the visible splash zone.