As party goers look to paint the town red on the last Friday before Christmas, Saturday is set to see a surge in the number of people going down with norovirus.
Gideon Preistnall of the Health Protection Agency said: "we're predicting many more cases of rapid onset vomiting and diarrhea in the next 24 hours. With Christmas shopping still to be done it's important that people wash their hands of all responsibility tonight", he said.
Already cases are rising as people contract the virus following their office shin-dig. "I knew I had that Norovirus when I got in from a 12 hour bender following our office party" claimed sofa-bound Mike Kendall, 23, an IT systems support operator from Long Eaton. "If you ask me someone with the virus can't have washed their hands properly before passing me that last bottle of Tanglefoot" he said before talking to God on the big white telephone.