Norovirus outbreak at Tokoroa Hospital

The Waikato District Health Board is urging people to stay away from Tokoroa Hospital following an outbreak of norovirus.

Twenty people at the hospital - 10 staff members and 10 patients - have so far contracted the virus.

Hospital patients have been isolated, either in single rooms or in multi-bed rooms with contact isolation precautions.

Affected staff have been told to remain at home until they have been symptom free for at least 48 hours.

Tokoroa Hospital manager Joanne Knight has asked that anyone who suspects they have the virus stay away: "It is highly contagious and the last thing our patients need is to be exposed to any (other) illnesses."

Symptoms of the virus include nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea, fever, muscle aches, and headache.

The illness is usually brief but violent with symptoms lasting one to two days.

Ms Knight says that during normal working hours members of the South Waikato community should contact their GP, preferably by telephone, if they fear they have the virus.

People are also being encouraged to avoid unnecessary contact with others if they fear they are ill.

Norovirus passes from hand-to-mouth through direct contact with another sick person and through eating contaminated food or touching surfaces and objects, (such as telephones or door handles) contaminated with the virus.

It has an incubation period of between 24 and 28 hours.

- NZ HERALD STAFF