Tauranga hospital signals all clear

18 January 2007

Tauranga hospital signals all clear

All wards affected by a small outbreak of gastroenteritis (a tummy bug often caused by norovirus) at Tauranga Hospital are now back in business.

The Bay of Plenty Health Board’s specialist infection control team signaled the ‘all clear’ just before noon today (Thursday January 18), and re-opened the final ward area to new patients this afternoon.

Ward 7 and the Health in Aging unit (wards 9 & 10) were closed to new admissions on January 3. Ward 7 re-opened on Monday (January 15), followed by HIA today.

About 35 patients and 20 staff reported having symptoms of gastroenteritis, but only about half of these had the norovirus strain.

Hospital infection control teams were able to get the outbreak under control quickly, however the tummy bug continues to be present in the wider Western Bay of Plenty community, and public vigilance is still required.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board infectious disease physician Dr Brian Dwyer says norovirus is highly infectious, and he advises the public that control is best achieved by strict hand washing after using a toilet.

Dr Dwyer says it is still important that anyone with the tummy bug does not visit the hospital until 48 hours after the last symptoms.

People can avoid the bug and prevent passing it on by:

- Washing and drying your hands thoroughly before eating or preparing food and after going to the toilet.
- Staying away from others and taking extra hygiene precautions while any symptoms (eg diarrhoea, tummy pains/cramps, or while ‘off your food’) continue.
- Not eating any raw shellfish.

ENDS

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