How many single mums are losing money because of this infection?

which is one of several schools at the centre of an outbreak.

The highly contagious virus causes vomiting or diarrhoea, or both. There is no specific treatment and the health board has advised parents to let it run its course.

Other symptoms include headaches, stomach cramps, aching limbs and a raised temperature.

Farell’s sister Bailey, 15, a pupil at Bishopbriggs Academy, has also been off sick with the illness.

In the same town, Balmuildy Primary School was forced to close this week.

Parents were asked to collect their children on Wednesday afternoon due to a lack of hot water.

The school added that pupils were reporting norovirus symptoms and hot water was essential for health and safety reasons. It reopened yesterday.

Earlier this month, St Angela’s Primary School in Darnley sent in specialist cleaners after an outbreak.

At the time, the school said a deep spray clean with a 48-hour period of no contact had been done to kill any virus or germs.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, it emerged that Elmvale Primary School in Springburn was closed until today after a high number of pupils and staff had caught norovirus.

Frances, from Bishopbriggs, said the shock of seeing her daughter lying in the hospital had encouraged her to want to raise awareness among parents.

She said: “The wee soul couldn’t even open her eyes. She was totally out of it.

“I actually got a fright when we took her in. The nurses were saying she was tired.

“As a parent, I was thinking how can she be tired. I was told her wee body was just exhausted.

“I could not have prevented that as I was giving her fluid every 15 minutes.

“The medical staff said no matter what I did as a parent, I did nothing wrong for her to be in the hospital.”

She added: “These schools should be deep cleaned at the weekend and parents need to keep their kids at home.

“I get childcare isn’t easy but the germs are just spreading.”

East Dunbartonshire Council confirmed that a deep clean has taken place at the school where Farell attends. The local authority added that staff have been reminding pupils about the importance of good hand and toilet hygiene.

Ann Davie, the council’s depute chief executive for education, said: “When dealing with an outbreak of norovirus in our schools, we follow the advice of NHS Public Health and put control measures in place in line with NHS guidance.

“Parents and carers of pupils at Thomas Muir Primary School were all contacted to advise them of the outbreak and to ensure that children displaying Norovirus symptoms were kept at home for 48 hours after symptoms subside.

“Parents were also issued with NHS guidance via e-mail.

“Intensive cleaning was carried out at the school over the weekend and this week the majority of pupils have returned to school.