This season hospitals in Southern Ontario have seen almost three times the amount of flu patients as last year and as we approach peak-flu (that’s the end of January for those of you non-hypochondriacs out there), a British bionic vomiting machine going by the name of Larry is working to figure out how to avoid catching the dreaded stomach flu.

Canada and the UK have seen the worst of this year’s strain of stomach flu norovirus with over a million people in the UK estimated to have already contracted it, up 72 per cent from last year. British Columbia has also seen a sizeable outbreak and since just one droplet of puke has enough virus to infect up to 100,000 people, chances are it will make its way to Toronto. The illness is spreading so fast, one professor at the University of Cambridge is calling it the “Ferrari of viruses.”

Enter Vomiting Larry, a robot developed by British scientists to help stem the spread of the virus. Larry, who’s crash test dummy-like head expels a fluorescent vomit substance, uses his ability to vomit harder and further than any human to show scientists just how far the tiniest bit of virus-housing vomit might reach. The prognosis: up to 3 meters. As someone who has been vomited on from across a 6-foot-long beer-pong table, I’m not surprised. Since a vaccine for norovirus is still in the works, cleaning the contaminated area (and watch out, regular household disinfectants and hand sanitizer may not be strong enough to kill the virus) is the best way to avoid getting sick. 

Check out Larry at work at 2:40. 

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Eva Voinigescu is an intern at Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter @EvaVoinigescu

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