When can you return to work after having flu-like symptoms and fever?

Answer 1

A person who is sick with the stomach flu is contagious for at least 3 days (and often 2 weeks) after symptoms have stopped. That means there are still stomach flu viruses present in your feces for at least 3 days after you have recovered. Ideally, you should stay home from work for 3 days. If this is not possible, you need to take extreme care not to spread your illness to others. Hand washing is very important. Don't touch anyone or anything without clean hands. If you work as a food service provider (restaurant or cafeteria worker) you MUST WAIT 72 hours before returning to work. Contagious food workers are often responsible for outbreaks of the stomach flu.

The stomach flu is really viral gastroenteritis. It is caused by a variety of different viruses and is unrelated to influenza (the real flu). The main symptoms are vomiting and/or diarrhea. When a person is sick with the stomach flu, the viruses that are causing their illness are present in their vomit and feces. Their vomit and feces contain millions of viruses. The illness is transmitted when a few of these viruses accidentally get into someone else's mouth.

Washing the viruses off your hands and body when you are sick is extremely important to avoid spreading the stomach flu. Particles of vomit can fly around the room when you are vomiting so cleaning sick room surfaces is also very important. The viruses can also live for weeks on surfaces so you must clean. Lysol disinfectant spray kills these viruses as does cleaning with a solution of 10% household bleach in water. Clorox wipes and Lysol wipes DO NOT kill these viruses.

A sick person is contagious (still producing viruses) for at least 3 days (often for 2 weeks) after their symptoms have stopped and they think they are well. Stay away from other people as much as possible while you are contagious. Keep young children home from day care or preschool for 3 days after they have recovered from a vomiting illness to avoid starting an outbreak at your school. If you work as a food service provider (cafeteria restaurant worker), do not return to work for 3 days to avoid starting an outbreak.

Answer 2

When your symptoms have cleared up and you have gone a full 24 hours without a fever (when not taking any fever reducing medicines like ibuprofen) you will no longer be able to spread the virus, however, depending on the job and working conditions, you may need to wait longer to get back strength or re-acclimate to the working conditions.

Answer 3

That might be dependent on the type of work you do and what your company requires before you are allowed to go back to work. The CDC has recommended that you not return to work or school or go in public until a full 24 hours have passed without any fever (use a thermometer) when not using medicines to treat the fever to be sure you are no longer contagious.

Answer 4

Usually you can return the day after your symptoms stop. That only goes for a mild case of the flu. If you have had a more severe case requiring physician's care, then consult the doctor and ask him/her. Each illness is different and so is each person's response to the illness.

Typically the rule of thumb is that you can return to work or school after a case of the flu when you have gone a full 24 hours without having any fever (use a thermometer and check it after you are no longer needing or using fever-reducing medicines).

If you will be around anyone under ten years old, especially infants, or the elderly and people with suppressed immune systems, you should wait until 24 full hours without fever or until your cough and other symptoms are gone, whichever comes last. If a cough lasts longer than 2 weeks or is getting more severe you should contact your health care professional for advice.

Answer 5

48 hrs after your last 'episode'.