by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
NHS Trusts in various parts of the country say that it is important to keep the highly contagious winter vomiting bug, or norovirus, out of hospitals and healthcare centers.
An infection prevention and control nurse adviser at at one primary care trust (PCT), said: “This bug is extremely contagious, so it’s vital that people with a tummy bug don’t go to their GP surgery, A&E or visit family or friends in hospital or nursing homes.
“An attack of norovirus is an unpleasant but short-lived illness lasting around two days. But hospitals and healthcare facilities have many vulnerable patients who can’t fight infections and to them, norovirus can prove fatal. The spread of the infection can also lead to wards being closed.”
Advice for people suffering from the bug is to stay at home, drink plenty of fluids and phone their GP surgery or NHS Direct if they need to, but not to go to their GP or to the hospital outpatients clinic, or emergency room.
Norovirus causes vomiting and diarrhoea, which normally stops after two days, but it can be fatal in the very young, elderly and sick. Other symptoms may include a raised temperature, headaches and aching limbs.
But those are also symptoms of the H1N1 Swine flu and could be stemming from that. Then again the NHS are also advising people with (seasonal) flu and colds not to go to their doctor's surgery or the hospitals.
You can help stop the spread of norovirus and other contagious infections by keeping hard surfaces clean and washing hands thoroughly with soap and water.
What are the NHS Trusts trying to hide, I would like to ask? The fact that the flu is spreading like wildfire through the country and that many – if not indeed the majority – of those infected and becoming ill were, in fact, given the vaccine.
© 2011
