Gastroenteritis is one of those infections that one simply does not want. If you have young children however, you get subjected to it quite often because there is invariably a new strain that goes around at school and they bring it home to you.  It seems that teachers eventually become immune to it, but having suffered a recent bout of gastroenteritis, I was reminded how helpless our bodies can become in a matter of hours, when suffering a bad infection.  One can literally not even have the strength to walk to the bathroom, and in some cases have to crawl on your hands and knees to get to the bathroom, and the amount of weight that you lose in 12 hours, as well as strength, is unbelievable.  The most common cause of gastroenteritis for adults is Norovirus and for children it is Rotavirus but other causes include bacteria and parasites, but those are less common.  

The key, when gastroenteritis is going around, is to use fresh water, wash your hands all the time and when you are able to keep the fluids down and to take enough fluids.  Gastroenteritis kills a lot of people, especially in poorer countries and according to Wikipedia, and here is a horrific thought, is more common in areas where a lot of people spend lots of time together, like cruise ships!  This makes me think about the cruise ship a year or two ago when they lost power and their toilets no longer functioned!  The good news is that there are some vaccines against gastroenteritis that are currently being developed and so maybe the saying, “No guts, no glory” will be able to continue having the meaning it does today whereas apparently originally it related to gastroenteritis and the role it has played in many military campaigns.