Child Has Norovirus. Started Vomiting And Noticed Black Stringy Thing In Stool. Concerned

Posted on Fri, 1 Mar 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 1 Mar 2013 Answered on

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi. Daughter has Norovirus and has been vomiting (mostly at night) and has diarrhea. Been to the hospital for dehydration and received Zofran to help. My question is in regards to her diarrhea. She just passed some and I noticed that along with the extremely foul odor there were little black stringy things throughout it. They appeared in size like pin worms but were not moving and were black instead of white. This concerns me because while we believe it to be Norovirus, there haven't been any definitive tests done. She has had several bananas, is it possible this is undigested fiber from the bananas or something else I should be concerned about? Thank you

Answered by Dr. Polash Sannigrahi (6 hours later)

Hello XXXXXXX,

Thanks for the query.

I understand your concern.

Presence of black stringy things in the stool may be due to undigested fiber from the banana.
But as you have mentioned foul odor in stool & diarrhea, it can be attributed to Gastroenteritis (viral, bacterial or parasitic etiology).

If I were to be her treating doctor, I would recommend use of albendazole suspension to take care of parasitic infection. Alternatively you could choose to wait for 2-3 days, if it is due to undigested fiber from the bananas, it will go off on its own. If it persist you can get a stool test done.

In the meanwhile, maintain adequate hydration in the form of fluids & ORS, and give her soft, non spicy diet.

Wishing your daughter a Good Health.
Let me know if I need to clarify further.

Take care

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad