Stomach bug hits hospital wards

An outbreak of gastroenteritis has closed two wards at Tauranga Hospital to new admissions.

Fifteen patients and staff, hit by the bug, were separated from others.

Discharges and transfers from the wards were restricted to try to contain the outbreak.

Dr Brian Dwyer, the hospital's infectious disease physician, said: "It's a bit of a nuisance. We've tweaked up the standard infection control practices and got staff to cover certain shifts. It takes a lot of organisational detail to make it work ... [and] there's pressure on finding beds for people needing hospital services."

Three staff and two patients in the orthopaedic ward went down with gastroenteritis last weekend and it flared again on Thursday night.

Eight patients and two staff in the general medical ward were hit by the highly infectious disease.

Dr Dwyer said the illness lasted two days and controls would be kept in place 48 hours after the last person recovered.

The illness is thought to be part of a nationwide outbreak of novovirus gastroenteritis, which produces diarrhoea. The virus normally attacks in the winter and causes vomiting.

Dr Dwyer said there was nothing special about Tauranga Hospital being affected.

"In the past two weeks Christchurch and Wellington hospitals have had to close some of their wards and it's our turn to have the outbreak."

The Bay of Plenty Medical Officer of Health, Dr Phil Shoemack, said people in rest homes and hospitals were more vulnerable to a gastroenteritis outbreak.

"You can have five counts of diarrhoea in five hours which could lead to dehydration, which is a particular issue for the young and the old," he said.

Dr Dwyer said no patients would be discharged and returned to a rest home until the gastroenteritis outbreak was over.

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES