AN OUTBREAK of the winter vomiting virus which has led to visiting restrictions being introduced in two of Dublin’s main hospitals has been described by doctors as one of the worst seen here in recent years.
Beaumont and St Vincent’s hospitals said the virus had affected some 100 staff and patients in recent days. Symptoms of the virus include abdominal cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea.
About 40 beds were unavailable at Beaumont Hospital yesterday as a result of quarantine arrangements put in place to deal with the outbreak. A further 19 beds were out of commission at St Vincent’s. A spokesman for Beaumont Hospital said “only truly essential visits should be made” and that there should be no more than one visitor per patient.
Dr Edmond Smyth, consultant microbiologist at Beaumont, said the outbreak was one of the worst in recent years. He said 153 patients and staff had shown symptoms of the virus at Beaumont since the start of the month. There were 45 patients being treated in the hospital for the illness yesterday, with 30 new cases emerging overnight. “We really are quite concerned about it and despite taking all the appropriate measures, the outbreak continues.”
He said the virus was very contagious and did not require close contact to be passed on.
The Health Service Executive said people infected by the virus were contagious from the moment they began feeling ill until two or three days after recovery. It said there was no specific treatment for the virus apart from sipping clear fluids. “It is important for people to use good handwashing and other hygienic practices after they have recently recovered from norovirus illness. In addition, noroviruses are very resilient and can survive in the environment (on surfaces, etc) for a number of weeks,” it said in a statement.
Beaumont Hospital said the outbreak was being managed appropriately and that, although not necessary yet, it may have to introduce an all-out ban on visitors if the current restrictions were not complied with.
St Vincent’s said it had identified 59 cases and was asking the public to attend only the emergency department when necessary, and not to bring children to the hospital.
“Members of the public who have symptoms such as ‘upset tummy’ should not attend the hospital but contact their GP in the first instance if they have serious concerns,” it said.
Dr Smyth said: “We want to be in a position where we have access to all our beds because [Beaumont] Hospital operates under tremendous bed pressure at the best of times and taking beds out of the system in order to keep them for infection control purposes, while necessary, does provide problems in terms of making those beds available for planned emergency cases.”