When one has the stomach flu, what is it that prevents the food from digesting and instead sends it back up?

Question

Please cite your source, too. This ain't wikipedia.

Answer 1

Some of the most common symptoms of Stomach Flu are: diarrhea, fever, headache, dehydration and vomiting. Vomiting and fever may or may not occur, but diarrhea almost always occurs. The symptoms of stomach flu usually takes several days to appear.

Stomach flu is caused by bacteria, viruses and certain parasites. The bacteria, viruses and parasites can be found in soil, wild and pet animals including birds, and humans.

The stomach flu occurs when the germs enter the stomach. Germs that cause the stomach flu usually enter the stomach by mouth.

http://www.mamashealth.com/stomach/stflu.asp



Viral gastroenteritis is an intestinal infection caused by several different viruses. Highly contagious, viral gastroenteritis is the second most common illness in the United States. It causes millions of cases of diarrhea each year.

Anyone can get viral gastroenteritis and most people recover without any complications. However, viral gastroenteritis can be serious when people cannot drink enough fluids to replace what is lost through vomiting and diarrhea—especially infants, young children, the elderly, and people with weak immune systems.

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/viralgastroenteritis/index.htm

Answer 2

Digestion time varies among members and among guys and females. After you devour, it takes approximately six to 8 hours for meals to move via your belly and small gut. Food then enters your significant gut (colon) for additional digestion, absorption of water and, ultimately, removing of undigested meals. In the Eighties, Mayo Clinic researchers measured digestion time in 21 healthful persons. Total transit time, from consuming to removing in stool, averaged fifty three hours (even though that determine is just a little overstated, considering the fact that the markers utilized by the researchers handed extra slowly via the belly than specific meals). The normal transit time via simply the significant gut (colon) used to be forty hours, with gigantic change among guys and females: 33 hours for guys, forty seven hours for females. Two British medical professionals studied digestion time in youngsters. They fed 35 youngsters juice containing a crimson marker and requested the kids s moms to notice while the stool first grew to become crimson. The imply time of transit from mouth to anus for the organization used to be 33 hours (which means part the kids had digestion instances slower than this and part had digestion instances better than this).

Answer 3

in essence, the body wants to rid itself of unnecessary contents so it can use all of its energy to fight the virus instead of digesting the food