Stomach bug could mean more surgery postponed

1.00pm

A meeting at Wellington Hospital today will decide whether further surgery will need to be postponed following the outbreak of a nasty and highly infectious stomach bug.

About 23 patients and 17 staff at Wellington and Kenepuru hospitals have contracted norovirus, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting.

Seventeen non-urgent operations scheduled at Wellington Hospital were postponed yesterday as a precaution.

Interim chief operating officer John Peters said the outbreak began in Kenepuru Hospital, Porirua, last week but hit Wellington's surgical ward on Wednesday night.

Today a Capital and Coast District Health Board spokeswoman said that whenever an infection was going around the hospitals daily meetings were held to decide on the appropriate response.

Medical officer of health Margot MacLean told National Radio today it was difficult to protect people from the bug, particularly once it got into institutions because it was so highly infectious.

"You only need a few particles of virus to actually get it yourself from somebody else. So the way to protect people is to institute pretty strong measures in institutions when there's an issue like this," she said.

Washing hands after going to the toilet, before preparing food, and after caring for someone who was sick was important.

Mr Peters said that at both hospitals concerned, infection control had been stepped up, patients isolated and affected staff sent home to control the spread of the infection.

Patients coming to Wellington Hospital suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea were being sent to Kenepuru Hospital and isolated in two wards, he said.

Day surgery was going ahead. Other non-urgent operations were being assessed daily, but were likely to be postponed until three days after the last patient stopped showing symptoms.

Infectious diseases physician Tim Blackmore said the outbreak was "really big" in terms of the impact on hospital services and staff.

Although Hutt Hospital had an outbreak last year, he was not aware of any outbreaks at Wellington since he started in 1998.

However, because only a few cases had been identified and isolated in Wellington, he hoped the outbreak could be contained within days. At Kenepuru it would last longer, he said.

Dr MacLean said the virus was a nasty tummy bug that often surfaced in winter and made people feel dreadful for a few days.

There were 73 outbreaks throughout New Zealand last year -- 33 in rest homes and hospitals.

The disease was not usually serious, but could be dangerous for the elderly or children, Dr MacLean said.

"You can get extremely severely dehydrated. You can die from it, but it's very rare."

Antibiotics were not effective, and a person suffering from the virus usually got better in one to three days, she said.

Public health had been aware that the disease was in the community and had investigated an incident in Kapiti about three weeks ago, when about 20 people got sick after a catered meal at a club meeting.

There had also been small outbreaks in one or two Kapiti rest homes, she said.

People with tummy bug symptoms should stay at home and drink plenty of fluids. If people had concerns about themselves or someone they were caring for and wanted to see a doctor, they should call first.

- NZPA