It’s that time of year. The infamous "winter vomiting disease," aka norovirus, is on the rise again.

Norovirus is a highly contagious stomach bug that causes sudden, often violent bouts of diarrhea and vomiting. If you've ever had norovirus, you know how miserable it is — one moment, you're fine, the next, you're stuck in gastrointestinal purgatory.

Unfortunately, as peak holiday season approaches, cases of norovirus are spiking across the United States.

According to WastewaterSCAN, which monitors diseases through municipal wastewater systems, norovirus levels are in the “high” category nationwide, with a significant upward trend in the last 3 weeks, Marlene Wolfe, Ph.D., professor at Emory University and principal investigator of WastewaterSCAN, tells TODAY.com.

Norovirus levels are

See Full Page