It is that wonderful time of year once again when absences soar as people go down with nasty bugs.
The new year special for 2008 appears to be norovirus – better known to most of us as the winter vomiting virus. And what makes the bug's day is when people return to work and school after the holidays so it can really spread around the place.
According to the front page story in today's Daily Telegraph, about two million people have been struck down so far this winter, the highest number for five years.
The paper quotes Dr Steve Field, the chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, as urging people to stay at home for 48 hours or so while the bug works itself out rather than going into work to share it with colleagues.
Almost inevitably, hospitals have already proved to be among the most vulnerable of workplaces. Weston Hospital in Somerset has closed two wards, as have the Lister Hospital in Hertfordshire and Blackpool's Victoria Hospital.
But this is not just a UK problem. Cunard's swish new ocean liner the Queen Victoria saw 80 passengers go down with the norovirus on its maiden voyage over the new year, and outbreaks are reported as far apart as New Zealand, Finland and Japan.
Before you roll out the disaster recovery plan, however, it appears that the epidemic has yet to cause too much panic at the top of the health service.
The Department of Health's website is currently more concerned with promoting the prime minister's new year message to NHS staff, and this appears to have no prominent mention of vomiting or diarrhoea anywhere.
And the hot news story for the Royal College of General Practitioners is a piece of research showing that a simple earwax treatment could save the NHS time.
For the record, here's the Health Protection Agency's winter vomiting disease factsheet (PDF format, 48kb).
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