Is there such a thing as 24-hour flu?

[Solon]

I had a friend (let's be honest, I wanted to date her; she wanted to be friends) while I was in college who went to culinary art school. She told me that the 24-hour-flu isn't real, or at least it's rare. The majority of brief illnesses of this type are caused by food poisoning. She went on to tell me that we are food-poisoned all the time. Just because we don't end up yakking up our oysters doesn't mean our food is completely poison-free. Lots of times it shows up as just a "slight bit of indigestion."

But I'm not so sure she was right. I'm suffering from some kind of heinous stomach ailment and I really don't think it's food-poisoning. Then, again, I'm currently only in hour 14 of my puke-fest.

[doctorcoug]

24-hour flu is an enteritis that generally comes from a toxin-laden product that was ingested. Most often, the toxin is staphylococcus aureus. She is pretty accurate in her statement.

[YOhio]

Good luck these next 10 hours!

[wuapinmon]

Just get in the shower, sit down, let the water run over you, and you'll feel much better. Plus, puking in the shower is a lot less messy.

[Indy Coug]

Just get in the shower, sit down, let the water run over you, and you'll feel much better. Plus, puking in the shower is a lot less messy.

[ERCougar]

I'd say your friend may be right, but in the end, who cares? Not to make light of your question, but from a treatment standpoint, we care about two things: would antibiotics help and does the patient need something besides oral rehydration? With your average adult "24 hour flu", the answer's no on both.

Now, from a public health standpoint, it may be interesting, but even there, I'm not sure it's worth the expense to figure it out.

The real answer is that we don't really know. There are viruses that cause short bouts of enteritis ("24-hr flu"). There are toxins released by bacteria that do the same. To sort out the difference, when the end result is mild and short-lived isn't terribly useful.