Gastroenteritis in Older Adults and People With Diabetes: Why Fluids Are Watched Closely

A daughter phones an advice line at seven in the morning. Her father, eighty-one, has been up since two with vomiting and diarrhea. He says he feels fine, just tired, and he would like to be left alone with the television. She is not convinced. He takes a water tablet for his blood pressure, his lips look dry, and he was a little muddled when she asked how he had slept.

That phone call is the everyday face of gastroenteritis in older adults. The same virus that gives a healthy thirty-year-old a miserable but forgettable couple of days behaves differently in a body with less reserve, in a person whose medicines push fluid out, or in someone whose blood sugar depends on eating and drinking predictably.

Clinicians do not watch these patients closely because the infection is more vicious. They watch because the fluid loss is less forgiving, and because the warning signs arrive later and quieter than most families expect.

What actually happens inside the gut during gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis is inflammation of the lining of the stomach and intestines, almost always caused by an infection. The word sounds like a diagnosis, but it is really a description of a battle taking place on a surface most of us never think about.

The inner wall of the small intestine is folded into millions of finger-like projections called villi, and those villi are lined with cells whose job is to pull water, salts and nutrients out of digested food and back into the bloodstream. Much of the fluid moving through the gut each day is not what you drank. It is digestive juice the body itself secreted, on the assumption that it would be reabsorbed further down.

A virus such as norovirus infects those lining cells. Damaged cells are shed faster than they can be replaced, the absorbing surface shrinks, and the gut flips from a net absorber of fluid to a net loser. Undigested sugars left behind in the bowel draw in even more water by osmosis, the tendency of water to move toward a more concentrated solution. The result is watery diarrhea.

Vomiting comes from a different route. Irritation of the stomach and upper gut, plus inflammatory signals, trigger the vomiting center in the brainstem. Now fluid and salts are leaving from both ends, and the salts matter as much as the water: sodium governs blood volume, potassium governs heart rhythm and muscle strength.

The good news is built into the same biology. Intestinal lining cells regenerate within days, which is why most viral gastroenteritis is self-limiting. The Mayo Clinic notes that symptoms usually last a day or two, though they can occasionally persist for up to 14 days. The task in the meantime is to replace what is leaving faster than it can be lost.

What are the common types of stomach infections in adults?

Most adults never learn which microbe caused their stomach bug, and for a healthy person that rarely matters. For an older adult or someone with diabetes, the likely culprit shapes how closely they are watched and whether a stool test is worth doing.

Viruses top the list. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases identifies norovirus as the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in adults; the CDC estimates it causes roughly 19 to 21 million illnesses a year in the United States. Rotavirus is mostly a childhood illness, softened by vaccination, but grandparents caring for a sick toddler can still catch it. Adenovirus and astrovirus round out the viral group.

Bacteria cause a smaller share but a more serious one. Salmonella, Campylobacter, Shigella and certain strains of E. coli infect the gut directly and tend to bring fever, cramping and sometimes blood in the stool. A separate bacterial category is toxin-mediated food poisoning, where Staphylococcus aureus or Bacillus cereus growing in badly stored food produce a toxin that strikes within hours, often before the organism itself does much at all.

Parasites such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium usually arrive via untreated water or travel and tend to linger for weeks rather than days.

One organism deserves its own line for this readership: Clostridioides difficile, usually shortened to C. diff. It is a bacterium that flourishes when antibiotics have cleared out the gut’s normal residents, and it disproportionately affects older adults and people who have recently been in hospitals or care facilities. Diarrhea that begins during or shortly after a course of antibiotics is the clue clinicians listen for.

Viral illness needs no antibiotic and usually no test. Bacterial or C. diff suspicion, especially in a frail or immunosuppressed person, is where stool sampling earns its place.

Why gastroenteritis in older adults is treated as a different illness

Age itself is not the problem. Reserve is. Several ordinary changes of later life stack up so that the same fluid loss produces a bigger physiological dent.

Total body water falls with age as muscle is replaced by fat, so a given volume of diarrhea represents a larger fraction of what the body holds. The thirst signal blunts; the Mayo Clinic notes that older adults may not feel thirsty until they are already significantly dehydrated. Kidneys concentrate urine less efficiently, so they cannot hoard water as well as they once did. Then there are the medicines. Diuretics push fluid out on purpose. Drugs in the ACE inhibitor and ARB classes, prescribed for blood pressure and heart failure, relax the small vessels that keep blood flowing through the kidney when volume drops. Each is sensible alone. Combined with vomiting, they can tip a kidney into acute kidney injury, a sudden drop in kidney function that shows up in blood tests before anyone feels unwell.

The consequences are practical rather than abstract. A blood pressure dip on standing means a fall in the night on the way to the bathroom. Dehydration in an aging brain often presents as new confusion or drowsiness rather than complaints of thirst. The CDC reports that norovirus hospitalizations and deaths in the United States occur mostly among adults aged 65 and older, largely through these downstream routes.

Who is usually observed at home? An otherwise robust older adult who is keeping fluids down, passing urine, thinking clearly, and has someone checking in. Who is usually asked to be seen sooner? Anyone living alone, anyone with dementia or known kidney or heart disease, anyone on diuretics or blood pressure medicines, and anyone whose vomiting has lasted more than a day. The treating team makes that call with the whole picture in front of them.

Why people with diabetes are watched so closely during a stomach bug

A stomach bug pulls blood glucose in two directions at once, and a person with diabetes can be caught in either.

Infection and vomiting are stressors. The body responds by releasing cortisol and adrenaline, hormones that tell the liver to release glucose and make tissues less responsive to insulin. Blood sugar can therefore climb even when someone has eaten nothing for a day. High glucose then spills into the urine and drags water with it, a process called osmotic diuresis, so the person loses fluid through the kidneys on top of the gut. Dehydration concentrates the blood further, glucose reads higher still, and the loop tightens.

The opposite risk sits beside it. Insulin or sulfonylureas, a class of tablets that prompt the pancreas to release insulin, keep acting whether or not a meal arrives. Vomiting after taking them can lead to hypoglycemia, a blood glucose low enough to cause shakiness, confusion or collapse.

For people with type 1 diabetes, vomiting carries a third meaning. It can be the earliest sign of diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA, a state in which a shortage of insulin forces the body to burn fat into acidic ketones. Nausea, abdominal pain and rapid breathing in someone with type 1 diabetes are treated as possible DKA until proven otherwise.

Two medicine classes come up in nearly every sick-day conversation. SGLT2 inhibitors work by making the kidneys excrete glucose, which also removes fluid and has been linked to ketoacidosis at near-normal glucose levels. Metformin is cleared by the kidneys, and dehydration-related kidney injury raises the risk of lactic acidosis, a dangerous build-up of acid. Whether either is paused during illness is a decision for the prescribing clinician, ideally written down in advance as a personal sick-day plan. This article does not make that call, and neither should a family member at the bedside.

How dehydration in elderly people is spotted: what clinicians actually check

Families often reach for the pinch test, lifting skin on the back of the hand to see how fast it springs back. In an older person this test misleads. Skin loses elasticity with age regardless of hydration, so slow recoil tells you about collagen, not blood volume.

Clinicians assemble a picture from several less glamorous clues instead. Urine is the first. Someone who has not passed urine in many hours, or whose urine is small in volume and dark, is conserving water because there is not enough to spare. The inside of the mouth matters more than the lips; a dry tongue and absent saliva pooling are meaningful, especially in a person who does not breathe through the mouth.

Blood pressure lying down and then standing is a workhorse test. A drop on standing, with dizziness, suggests the circulation lacks volume. Heart rate is checked but interpreted cautiously, since beta blockers, common in this age group, prevent the heart from speeding up in response.

Behavior may be the most sensitive sign of all. New confusion, unusual sleepiness, irritability or a sudden inability to manage tasks that were manageable yesterday can be dehydration speaking through the brain. MedlinePlus lists confusion among the signs of dehydration that warrant medical attention.

Blood tests complete the picture. Urea and creatinine, waste products the kidneys normally clear, rise when the kidneys are underperfused. Sodium can drift high or low depending on what has been lost and what has been replaced. Potassium falls with heavy diarrhea. In a person with diabetes, glucose and, where appropriate, ketones are added to the panel.

No single reading decides anything. The trend over hours, set against the person’s baseline, is what guides the team.

How fluid replacement actually works, and when a drip is used instead

The most elegant fact in gastroenteritis care is that the very cells being damaged still keep one door open. A transport protein in the gut wall moves glucose and sodium into the body together, and water follows them. Even during heavy viral diarrhea, this pathway usually keeps working.

That is the principle behind oral rehydration solution, a measured mix of salts and a small amount of sugar. The sugar is not there for energy; it is the key that pulls sodium and water across the gut lining. Plain water alone replaces volume but not salt, and in large amounts can dilute blood sodium. Very sugary drinks, including many sodas and undiluted juices, have the opposite problem: their concentration draws water into the bowel and can worsen diarrhea.

Technique matters as much as content. The NHS advises taking small, frequent sips rather than large gulps, which are more likely to trigger further vomiting. A teaspoon every few minutes adds up to a surprising volume over an hour, and it keeps the stomach from distending.

Sometimes the oral route fails. Vomiting that returns everything, a person too drowsy or confused to drink safely, blood pressure that has fallen, or blood tests showing significant kidney strain all point toward intravenous fluids, delivered through a drip directly into a vein. For an older adult with heart failure, the team walks a narrow path: too little fluid harms the kidneys, too much can overload the lungs. That balance is one reason hospital observation is sometimes chosen over home care.

Medicines that suppress nausea, known as antiemetics, are sometimes considered in adults to make oral rehydration possible. Whether one is appropriate, and which, depends on the individual’s other medicines and heart rhythm, and rests with the clinician.

How a stomach bug usually runs: a comparison table

Timelines are the question every patient asks and every clinician answers with a range. The table below sets out typical patterns as described by major sources. They are averages drawn from populations, not promises about any one person, and older adults may recover more slowly.

Cause	Typical onset after exposure	Typical duration	Distinctive features	Source
Norovirus	12–48 hours	1–3 days	Sudden vomiting, watery diarrhea, spreads rapidly through households and care settings	CDC
Viral gastroenteritis in general	1–3 days	Usually 1–2 days; occasionally up to 14 days	Low-grade fever, cramps, aches; no blood in stool	Mayo Clinic
Diarrhea and vomiting, all common causes	Varies	Vomiting usually settles within 1–2 days; diarrhea usually within 5–7 days	Basis for the 48-hour stay-home rule after last symptom	NHS
Toxin-mediated food poisoning	Hours	Short, often under a day	Several people ill after one shared meal; vomiting dominant	General clinical description
Bacterial gut infection	Days	Often longer than viral illness	Fever, severe cramps, possible blood in stool; stool test may be requested	General clinical description

Two patterns in this table deserve attention. Norovirus arrives fast and leaves fast, but its 12–48 hour incubation means a household often sees a second wave of illness just as the first person recovers. And the gap between vomiting ending and diarrhea ending is real: a person may feel well enough to eat by the second day while still losing meaningful fluid through the bowel for most of a week. For an older adult or someone with diabetes, that second half of the illness, when vigilance naturally relaxes, is where quiet dehydration tends to build.

How can I tell if I have food poisoning or a stomach bug?

The honest answer is that you often cannot, and the two categories overlap more than the phrasing suggests. Food poisoning means illness caused by something contaminated that you ate or drank. A stomach bug usually means a contagious viral infection. Yet the CDC identifies norovirus as a leading cause of foodborne illness, so a meal can give you a stomach bug, and a stomach bug can be food poisoning.

Still, the story around the illness offers clues that clinicians weigh.

Timing and company come first. If several people who shared one meal fell ill within a few hours of each other, a bacterial toxin already present in the food is likely. If illness has moved through a household over several days, one person at a time, a contagious virus with a day or two of incubation fits better.

Character of the illness comes next. Watery diarrhea with prominent vomiting and little fever points toward a virus. High fever, severe cramping and blood or mucus in the stool raise suspicion of bacterial infection and lower the threshold for a stool test. Diarrhea that started during or just after antibiotics prompts a check for C. diff. Weeks of loose stool after travel or drinking from a stream suggests a parasite.

Why does the distinction matter for this readership specifically? Because the response differs. Viral illness is managed with fluids and time. Certain bacterial infections in a frail or immunosuppressed person may be treated with antibiotics, while for others, such as some E. coli strains, antibiotics can make matters worse. That judgment depends on a test result and a clinician, not on the color of the drink you kept down.

If in doubt, describe the timeline and who else is ill. Those two details do more diagnostic work than any home remedy.

How long is gastro contagious? What the 48-hour rule really means

Longer than most people assume, and longer than they feel ill. For norovirus, the CDC states that a person is contagious from the moment symptoms begin and can continue to spread the virus for two weeks or more after feeling better. The practical rule adopted by the NHS is narrower: stay away from work, school and other people until 48 hours after the last episode of vomiting or diarrhea, and do not prepare food for others during that window.

Why 48 hours if shedding continues for a fortnight? Because the amount of virus in stool falls steeply once symptoms stop, and because a rule people can actually follow protects more people than a perfect rule they ignore. The 48-hour mark is where the balance was struck.

Norovirus spreads with very little. A few dozen viral particles can cause infection, invisible amounts of vomit or stool contaminate surfaces, and the virus survives on those surfaces for days. Alcohol-based hand rubs are less effective against it than soap and running water, which physically wash the particles away. Bleach-based cleaners are recommended for contaminated surfaces, and soiled laundry should be handled with gloves and washed at the hottest setting the fabric allows.

Two settings turn these facts into serious business. The first is any home where an older adult is being cared for by someone who has just recovered: two more days of handwashing discipline is a small price. The second is the care home or hospital, where the NHS specifically asks visitors with recent symptoms to stay away. Outbreaks in these settings are common precisely because the people inside have the least reserve to spare.

Some people carry and shed the virus without ever feeling unwell. That is one more argument for handwashing as a habit rather than a response.

Which medicines get a second look during gastroenteritis, and who decides

A short illness can change how long-standing medicines behave, which is why clinicians ask for the full list early. None of what follows is an instruction to stop or start anything. It is an explanation of why your prescriber may want to hear from you.

Some medicines lose fluid or protect the kidney in ways that turn against it during dehydration. Diuretics remove water by design. ACE inhibitors, ARBs and anti-inflammatory painkillers in the NSAID class all alter blood flow through the kidney, and together with vomiting they are the classic recipe for acute kidney injury. In diabetes care, metformin and SGLT2 inhibitors sit in the same conversation for the reasons described earlier. Many health systems describe these collectively as sick-day medicines, and a written sick-day plan agreed in advance is the cleanest way to handle them.

Other medicines have a narrow safe window and are affected by fluid shifts. Lithium and digoxin levels can rise when the kidneys slow. Warfarin’s effect can swing when eating stops and gut absorption changes, so a blood test may be brought forward.

Medicines that treat the symptoms deserve equal caution. Antidiarrheal tablets slow the bowel and are generally avoided when there is fever or blood in the stool, since trapping an infection is not the goal; in frail older adults clinicians are often reluctant to use them at all. Antibiotics are not indicated for viral illness and can worsen some bacterial infections, so they wait on a test result.

Finally, the illness can stop medicines from being taken at all. Someone who has vomited within an hour of a dose may not have absorbed it. Rather than guessing whether to repeat it, the safe move is a phone call to the prescriber or a pharmacist, who can see the whole list.

What the following days usually look like, and what to eat after gastroenteritis

Recovery has a shape. Vomiting is usually the first symptom to leave; the NHS notes it typically settles within a day or two. Diarrhea lingers longer, often up to five to seven days, and fatigue can outlast both. In older adults, that tiredness sometimes reads as a step down in mobility or confidence that takes another week to climb back.

Appetite is the signal to start eating again, not the calendar. The old advice to fast for a day or two has no good evidence behind it, and going without food delays the gut lining’s repair. When hunger returns, the Mayo Clinic suggests easing back with bland, easily digested foods and small portions, then widening the menu as the bowel tolerates it. Toast, rice, potatoes, bananas, plain crackers and clear soups are the usual first steps because they are low in fat and easy on a sensitive stomach. Very fatty, very spicy or heavily sweetened foods tend to sit poorly early on. Some people find dairy uncomfortable for a few days while the lining recovers; the evidence for routinely avoiding it is mixed, so let your own gut decide.

For someone with diabetes, the return to eating is also a return to their usual medicine pattern, and glucose readings may run higher or lower than normal for a few days as the stress response fades. The sick-day plan should say when to revert, and the prescriber should hear about readings that stay out of range.

Fluids remain the priority until stools are formed. Drink to replace what is still leaving, and remember that the 48-hour stay-home rule starts from the last symptom, not the first meal.

Loose stool that persists beyond two weeks, weight that does not recover, or a new pattern of bowel trouble after the infection are reasons to be reviewed rather than waited out.

What people often get wrong

Most of the harm in gastroenteritis comes not from the virus but from beliefs about it. These are the ones clinicians correct most often.

The first is that you should wait to feel thirsty. In older adults, thirst is a late and unreliable messenger. Fluids should be offered on a schedule, in small amounts, regardless of whether they are requested.

The second is that any drink counts. Water alone does not replace lost salt, and sports drinks, despite the marketing, are formulated for sweating athletes rather than for diarrhea; most contain more sugar and less sodium than a purpose-made oral rehydration solution. Flat soda and diluted juice have a long folk history and a short evidence base.

The third is that starving the gut helps. It does not. Eat when hungry.

The fourth is that skipping insulin makes sense when you are not eating. Guidance for people with type 1 diabetes consistently warns that insulin is still needed during illness, because the body is producing glucose from its own stores and because ketoacidosis can develop without it. How much, and how to adjust, is a conversation with the prescriber, not a decision made alone at three in the morning.

The fifth is that antibiotics will speed things up. For viral illness they do nothing, and for some bacterial causes they make things worse.

The sixth is that alcohol hand gel is enough. Against norovirus, soap and water outperform it.

The seventh is that a stomach bug is trivial. For a fit adult it usually is. For the eighty-one-year-old in the opening scene, the illness itself remains mild; it is the fluid balance, the blood pressure on standing and the kidney numbers that decide whether he spends the week at home or in a hospital bed.

Questions to ask your care team

A good consultation about gastroenteritis is short, specific and leaves you knowing what to watch for and whom to call. These questions help shape it, whether you are the patient or the person looking after them.

• Which of my regular medicines, if any, need a decision while I am vomiting or not eating, and who makes that decision?
• Do I have a written sick-day plan for my diabetes, and does it cover blood glucose targets, ketone checking and when to call?
• What fluid should I be using, roughly how often should I be sipping, and what would tell you it is not working?
• Is a stool test worth doing in my case, and what would change if it came back positive for a bacterial cause or C. diff?
• Should my kidney function or salt levels be checked with a blood test, and when?
• Given my heart or kidney history, is there a fluid amount I should not exceed?
• Who else in my household is at risk, and how long should I keep away from the person I care for?
• What signs would mean I should stop waiting and go to an emergency department?
• When can I expect to return to my usual eating pattern and medicine routine, and who confirms that?
• If my diarrhea has not settled within a week, who reviews me and how do I reach them?

Write the answers down or ask for them in writing. Illness makes recall unreliable, and a relative on the phone the next day will thank you for a clear note rather than a memory. The team may not have a definitive answer to every question at the first contact; the value lies in agreeing, together, what would prompt the next one.

When to call your doctor: red-flag signs in gastroenteritis

Most people with gastroenteritis recover at home. The purpose of this section is to name the signs that mean home is no longer the right place, drawing on the thresholds published by the NHS and the Mayo Clinic. If any of them appear, contact your doctor or local urgent care line the same day. If the person is drowsy, hard to rouse, fainting, breathing rapidly or has chest pain, treat it as an emergency.

Call promptly for any of the following:

• Unable to keep any fluid down, or vomiting that has continued for more than two days.
• Signs of dehydration: passing very little urine or none for many hours, dark urine, dizziness on standing, a dry mouth, or new confusion or unusual sleepiness, particularly in an older adult.
• Blood in the stool, black tarry stool, or vomiting blood or material that looks like coffee grounds.
• Severe or constant abdominal pain, or a hard, swollen abdomen.
• A fever of 104 F (40 C) or higher, or fever with shaking chills.
• Diarrhea that has lasted more than seven days, or that began during or shortly after antibiotics or a hospital stay.
• In diabetes: blood glucose that stays high despite your usual plan, any positive ketone reading, glucose repeatedly low, or an inability to take your usual medicines.
• A frail person, someone with dementia, or someone living alone who cannot reliably drink or be checked on.
• Recent travel, or a suspected outbreak in a care setting.

Say clearly when the illness started, how many episodes of vomiting and diarrhea there have been, what has been drunk and kept down, and which medicines are taken. That information, more than any single symptom, lets the clinician judge how much reserve remains and decide what should happen next. Every decision about fluids, tests and medicines belongs with the team looking after you.

Frequently asked questions

How long is gastro contagious after symptoms stop?

For norovirus, the CDC says a person can still spread the virus for two weeks or more after feeling better, though the amount shed falls sharply once symptoms end. The NHS uses a practical rule: stay away from work, school, care homes and hospitals, and avoid preparing food for others, until 48 hours after the last episode of vomiting or diarrhea. Careful handwashing with soap should continue well beyond that.

How can I tell if I have food poisoning or a stomach bug?

Often you cannot, because norovirus is both a contagious stomach bug and a leading cause of foodborne illness. Clues that help clinicians: several people ill within hours of one shared meal suggests a bacterial toxin; illness moving through a household one person at a time over days suggests a virus; fever with blood in the stool raises suspicion of bacterial infection and may prompt a stool test.

What are the common types of stomach infections in adults?

Viruses cause most cases, with norovirus the leading culprit in adults according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Bacterial causes include Salmonella, Campylobacter, Shigella and certain E. coli strains, plus toxin-mediated food poisoning from Staphylococcus aureus. Parasites such as Giardia are less common. Clostridioides difficile is a particular concern in older adults after antibiotics or hospital stays.

What to do after gastroenteritis to recover properly?

Keep replacing fluids until stools are formed, since diarrhea often continues for 5–7 days after vomiting stops, according to the NHS. Eat when appetite returns, starting with bland, easily digested foods and small portions, then widening the diet as tolerated. Wait 48 hours after the last symptom before returning to work or caring for others. People with diabetes should follow their sick-day plan for returning to their usual medicine pattern.

What does dehydration in elderly people look like?

It often looks like confusion, drowsiness or a fall rather than complaints of thirst, because the thirst signal weakens with age. Clinicians look for very little or dark urine, a dry tongue, dizziness or a blood pressure drop on standing, and new changes in alertness. The skin-pinch test is unreliable in older skin. MedlinePlus lists confusion among the dehydration signs that warrant medical attention.

Why is gastroenteritis more serious in older adults?

Because the body has less reserve, not because the infection is worse. Older adults hold less total body water, feel thirst later, concentrate urine less well, and often take diuretics or blood pressure medicines that strain the kidneys when fluid is short. The CDC reports that most norovirus hospitalizations and deaths in the United States occur in adults aged 65 and older, largely through dehydration and its consequences.

Should a person with diabetes check ketones during a stomach bug?

People with type 1 diabetes are commonly advised to check ketones during any illness with vomiting, because vomiting can be an early sign of diabetic ketoacidosis. Some people with type 2 diabetes, particularly those taking SGLT2 inhibitors, may also be asked to check. Whether, how often and what result should trigger a call are set out in an individual sick-day plan agreed with the prescribing clinician.

Can I take anti-diarrhea tablets for gastroenteritis?

It depends on the cause and the person, which is why clinicians decide case by case. Medicines that slow the bowel are generally avoided when there is fever or blood in the stool, because they can trap an infection, and many clinicians are cautious about using them in frail older adults. For viral illness, fluids and time are the mainstay. Ask a pharmacist or your doctor before using any symptom-relief medicine.

What should I drink with a stomach bug if water alone isn't enough?

Oral rehydration solution, a measured mix of salts and a small amount of sugar, is designed for exactly this situation because the sugar helps the gut absorb sodium and water together. Plain water replaces volume but not salt, and very sugary drinks or undiluted juice can draw water into the bowel and worsen diarrhea. The NHS advises small, frequent sips rather than large gulps, which are more likely to trigger vomiting.

When can I return to work after gastroenteritis?

The NHS advises staying away from work or school until 48 hours after the last episode of vomiting or diarrhea. If your work involves handling food or caring for older, very young or immunosuppressed people, your employer may have longer rules, and it is worth checking. Keep washing hands with soap and water for at least two weeks afterward, since norovirus can still be shed after you feel well.

References

• NHS: Diarrhoea and vomiting
• CDC: About Norovirus
• NIH NIDDK: Viral Gastroenteritis (Stomach Flu)
• MedlinePlus: Dehydration

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.