The Most Wonderful Time Of the Year, for Germs, Too

There's also the highly contagious respiratory syncytial virus, which can cause bronchitis and pneumonia in young children and a bad cold in adults.

And then there's The Flu, which among the young, old or weak can be fatal.

The stomach thing also may come from multiple sources, Tillman said. But who cares? The result is pretty much the same.

Now often called the "cruise ship illness," for its seaborne outbreaks, or simply the "winter vomiting disease," it laid low scores of students at Catholic University last week and more than 300 people on a Miami-based cruise liner last month. Norovirus is named after Norwalk, Ohio, where it sickened numerous elementary school students in 1968.

And even though it may seem as if everybody's sick with these maladies, the amount of illness is pretty standard.

"It tends to be the usual increase that we see as you move into the fall and winter, with people spending more time indoors and in close quarters," Tillman said.

It's just particularly distressing right now because no one wants to be sick for the holidays.

"Everybody who comes in wants to be cured in time for Christmas," said David Anderson, a doctor with Maryland Primary Care in Annapolis. "But an illness has to run its course, so, as always, we do the best we can to help them."

If you come down with any of this, the usual non-aspirin cough and cold remedies work best for respiratory infection, said Shoham, the infectious-diseases expert.

Should the stomach malaise strike, try to stay hydrated, he said. Sports drinks can help. To speed recovery, he recommends the BRAT diet: bread, rice, applesauce, toast.

To avoid illness, and prevent passing it on, take the standard precautions, said Kimberly Cordero, spokeswoman for the Fairfax Health Department: Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water several times a day, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. When sneezing or coughing, do so into a sleeve or tissue, not into your hand.

And use common sense.

Along with many others, Shoham wasn't feeling great this week. He had a sore throat and a stuffy nose, and he knew why.

"That'll teach me to share my drink with my 3-year-old," he said.