How long is the contagion period of gastroenteritis?
There are many causes of gastroenteritis. Some of them can be bacterial. Others are viral. I’m going to address norovirus, a common source of viral gastroenteritis. Norovirus can cause illness that lasts about 72 hours. A person with Noro can be contagious from less than 12 hours before onset (as onset tends to be about 12 hours following exposure), then they’re contagious while they’re sick (another 72 hours), then they can continue to shed virus 48 hours afterwards. That’s about 5 and a half days a person can be contagous with norovirus. Things like Shigella and Salmonella can be contagious much longer than that (weeks, even MONTHS!).
