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I was curious to see what people's experiences were with getting ill after attending large events. My friends and I have always joking referred to it as Nerd Flu or Con Crud.

I think it due to several factors they key being exposure to large masses of people, being run down from travel, lack of sleep, eating poorly and perhaps over excitement.

I've had this happen multiple times after going to CCG events so it's certainly not limited to wargaming events. I opted not to attend Adepticon this year as Covid is still making the rounds on top of the regular illnesses.

My brother however had to work a booth there, he and all of the other shop employees caught Covid and of course brought it home so everyone in my house is now sick. Have you come down with something as a result of attending the convention? (covid or otherwise) Do you take any specific measures to help prevent getting ill? Or do you just consider it part of the price of attending?

All my con experience is decades ago, but you are spot on. Lots of people, bad eating, lack of sleep. Con crud is real.

When we were young, it was just the price we paid. Later, we started taking better care of ourselves, it mitigated it a bit. Getting to sleep at a decent hour, eating better, drinking more water.

Con Crud is real.

You can minimise your chances of contracting it.
You just have to take an extra step or so for covid reasons.

If you MUST shake hands, use the SAME HAND EVERY TIME(and for covid reasons, carry a little bottle of sanitiser on you if you feel you have to.). A lot of people STILL don't wash them after bathroom visits.

DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE. Seriously. This is the usual path of con-crud transmission. Hand to face. You will touch your face near your breathing holes OR your eyes, and these are the choice areas viruses like to use. Most people don't realise how often they do this. It takes conscious effort to not do it. Just rubbing your nose after shaking someone's hand can be enough.

Mask up. It may not be required at the venue but it may help you to avoid whatever other lurgies are also around.

Sounds very similar to "Fresher's 'flu", same phenomenon of lots of young folk who don't usually meet up, from different geographic areas, who run themselves down over several days.

A lot of it is due to being exposed to strains of cold viruses you are not personally used to- people will go to a con from all over the country or world, and bring their own local microbiome with them.

 Nevelon wrote:
All my con experience is decades ago, but you are spot on. Lots of people, bad eating, lack of sleep. Con crud is real.

When we were young, it was just the price we paid. Later, we started taking better care of ourselves, it mitigated it a bit. Getting to sleep at a decent hour, eating better, drinking more water.

Some of this is simply age- the more colds you get exposed to, the less likely you are to get symptomatic colds as you already have resistance to most of the common strains. The elderly are very rarely symptomatic of viral colds unless they have COPD, whereas the young can get several in a year.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 chromedog wrote:
A lot of people STILL don't wash them after bathroom visits.

Worth noting that some key infections that cause diarrhoea and vomiting and are spread by folks not washing their hands after going to the toilet are NOT killed by alcohol sanitisers (notably norovirus/winter vomiting bug). Always good to throw in some proper washes with soap and water when you can.

I don't really go to cons but I've been sick as hell 3 times after going to playoff games at the Superdome. I think New Orleans is a nice melting pot of germs from all over the world.

Your immune system also tends to work less well on holidays

(in part due to lower levels of Adrenalin in your blood which tend to peak just before you go away as you struggle to get everything you need to done before you go...... so if you go to a convention playing in an important tournament may be safer than casually browsing the vendor hall)

If the event isn't local, setting aside germs from the attendees, you're just generally exposed to a different set of allergens in the air than what you're used to back home.

 chromedog wrote:

DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE. Seriously. This is the usual path of con-crud transmission. Hand to face. You will touch your face near your breathing holes OR your eyes, and these are the choice areas viruses like to use. Most people don't realise how often they do this. It takes conscious effort to not do it. Just rubbing your nose after shaking someone's hand can be enough.

I cannot repeat enough how much of a good piece of advice this is, and its something I always used to be mindful of with conventions, as I used to have to do a fair few with my job.

You basically have to behave as though your hand is the possessed one from the Evil Dead and is trying to kill you. Keep it away from your face at all times.

These days I would absolutely have a pot of sanitiser in my pocket and probably wear a mask too, due to the Bug that Shall Not be Named.

Wash your hands on occasion.

You'll be fine.

 chromedog wrote:



DO NOT TOUCH YOUR FACE. Seriously. This is the usual path of con-crud transmission. Hand to face. You will touch your face near your breathing holes OR your eyes, and these are the choice areas viruses like to use. Most people don't realise how often they do this. It takes conscious effort to not do it. Just rubbing your nose after shaking someone's hand can be enough.

Mask up. It may not be required at the venue but it may help you to avoid whatever other lurgies are also around.

Let me second this one. Viruses and bacteria cannot get through your skin, they need am opening. Nose, eyes, ears, mouth. (Or a cut, so use band aids)

Don't touch your face. But this is harder than it sounds, so don't raise your hand above your shoulders and wear a mask, not just to keep out airborne particles but to keep your fingers off of your nose and mouth!

I've only had the con crud once in all my dozens of cons that I've attended, I credit a robust immune system and a perhaps slightly above average attention to personal hygiene, etc.

My girlfriend on the other hand... every single time.

I haven't been to a Con in awhile, but pre-pandemic I would have to travel all over the country for work, some of which was to attend trade shows. I would almost always get sick afterwards.

Beyond the obvious wash your hands a lot and do not touch your face; I take a daily multi-vitamin and on occasion I'll take some extra vitamin C, D and Zinc. Though you need to be very careful with these, especially the Zinc. Make sure to check with your Dr. before taking vitamins. Over-the-counter drugs and vitamins still have the potential to be harmful.

 RedDogMinis wrote:

I was curious to see what people's experiences were with getting ill after attending large events. My friends and I have always joking referred to it as Nerd Flu or Con Crud.

I think it due to several factors they key being exposure to large masses of people, being run down from travel, lack of sleep, eating poorly and perhaps over excitement.

I've had this happen multiple times after going to CCG events so it's certainly not limited to wargaming events. I opted not to attend Adepticon this year as Covid is still making the rounds on top of the regular illnesses.

My brother however had to work a booth there, he and all of the other shop employees caught Covid and of course brought it home so everyone in my house is now sick. Have you come down with something as a result of attending the convention? (covid or otherwise) Do you take any specific measures to help prevent getting ill? Or do you just consider it part of the price of attending?

Im sorry to hear that has occurred to your brother, and thus, everyone else.

Con crud is real. One should expect it as a 100% likely result of attendance, and if you make it out clean, count yourself as very very lucky. Play the lottery kind of lucky.

Because there will 100% be not only one person, but multiple people, who say "Crap. Im sick. I feel like hell and my bodily fluids are all over the place and i already have no clue what decent hygiene is that woyld be the minimum to keep others safe from what i got, but I paid a ton to attend this event, and made plans month in advance, im not going to let the well being of others get in the way of my selfish needs".

Its really quite as simple as that.

After attending a few conventions like gen con and adepticon, i found that while the experience doesnt actively stink, it also certainly wasnt worth the cost and effort to attend what could easily be considered commercials you pay a premium to be advertised to.

So, it makes at least larger, non-local events much easier to ignore.