Said It Here

How often do elementary teachers actually catch stomach bugs from kids?

Elementary school teachers with severe emetophobia often face catching stomach bugs about every other year. This constant exposure fuels daily anxiety about student illness and makes working around children a daily challenge.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    washing hands instead of relying on hand sanitizer
  2. 2
    wearing a high quality respirator to prevent touching the face and block airborne transmission

In their words

Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.

r/Teachers2 people · September 2026

“I have very severe emetophobia (working on it!!!) and want to know how often you’ve all gotten a stomach from kids.”source ↗

fakestever · r/Teachers · 11 upvotes

“I’ve been teaching elementary for 15 years. I usually get it every other year. It suuuuucks.”source ↗

nomadicstateofmind · r/Teachers · 1 upvotes
r/travel1 person · October 2026

“I have a huge phobia when it comes to vomiting and I understand that Asia, more so South East Asia (in my case, Ho Chi Minh & Bangkok) can be notorious for it due to how food is handled and prepped.”source ↗

keagennn97 · r/travel

Where this came up

People with this problem also raised