What to know about 'the sprinter of viruses' that stopped Canada-Finland hockey game

Olympic officials made the right call in postponing the Canada-Finland women's hockey game on Thursday after several players on the Finnish team came down with norovirus, doctors say.

"This is the sprinter of viruses. This thing moves fast," said Dr. Nitin Mohan, a physician and epidemiologist at Western University in London, Ont.

"[Officials] did a great job to suspend the game, which likely prevented a spread to the Canadian team," he said.

Here are a few things to know about norovirus.

Norovirus is a common cause of gastrointestinal illness usually characterized by the sudden onset of vomiting and/or diarrhea. People often call it "stomach flu."

"The best name from my perspective is the Brits call it ‘winter vomiting disease,’” said Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.

Most people have active gastrointestinal symptoms for 24 to 36 hours, McGeer said. In some cases, it can last 48 hours.

"You get sudden onset of vomiting and/or diarrhea. And then, you know, you don't leave the bathroom for six hours. And then it gets better. And then by the next day, you don't have diarrhea or vomiting anymore. You just feel like you've been hit by a truck," she said.

"And the day after that, you're pretty much back to normal," although fatigue can linger, McGeer said.

Norovirus is very contagious.

It's typically found in traces of fecal matter and spreads through contact with an infected person, through food handled by an infected person or touching contaminated surfaces.

People can also get it from aerosols released in the air when an infected person is vomiting, both Mohan and McGeer said.

Norovirus outbreaks are common in daycares, long-term care homes and anywhere