MRSA and Winter Vomiting Disease

11/01/05

A spokesperson for Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said:

"Gloucestershire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has a good record on healthcare-associated infection and has a relatively low rate of MRSA blood-stream infection when compared to the regional and national average. In July last year league tables published showed that the Trust has some of the lowest rates of MRSA infection in the country.

The Trust, which runs Cheltenham General, Gloucestershire Royal and Delancey Hospitals, has the 20th lowest rate nationally, out of 110 acute NHS trusts when assessed over the three year surveillance period.

The Trust also has an infection rate considerably lower than the average rate for the South West.

However, we are not complacent about the problem that MRSA causes when it does arise, and across all of our hospitals we are constantly working to make sure that all staff follow good practice in terms of high levels of hygiene, hand washing and other infection control measures

The Trust is taking part in new initiatives to tackle the problem of hospital acquired infection, including the 'Clean Your Hands' Campaign and the Matron's Charter.

Winter Vomiting Disease

Winter vomiting disease is caused by a virus that causes a form of gastroenteritis or "gastric 'flu". The responsible virus has a variety of names, small round structured virus (SRSV), or norwalk virus and has been most recently christened norovirus. This virus is completely different to the microbe MRSA which is actually a bacterium. As norovirus affects people most commonly in winter the illness it causes has become known as winter vomiting disease.

Winter vomiting disease is a very common cause of gastroenteritis in the community. According to the Health Protection Agency it is the commonest cause of infectious gastroenteritis in England and Wales. Norovirus infection is highly infectious so it can be introduced and spread quite readily in institutions like nursing homes and hospitals.
Norovirus is no respecter of age and can affect people of all ages whether they are patients, staff or visitors. The bug can be introduced into hospitals by ill patients admitted from their homes, ill visitors and ill members of staff.

Norovirus infection although infectious and unpleasant, is relatively mild and responds to supportive treatment such as keeping patients well hydrated. It does not need to be treated with any antibiotics.

The Trust's Infection Control staff will close a ward to admissions if patients or staff show symptoms suggestive of the norovirus infection. This is done to stop the spread of the virus. They will also restrict which staff work on the particular ward and reinforce hand hygiene and ward cleanliness. Visitors are restricted and advised not to visit if possible. Visitors who are ill with the infection are advised that they should not visit until they have been fully recovered for 48 hours.

In the last six months at Cheltenham General and Delancey Hospitals there has been one ward closure in response to suspected norovirus outbreaks. One ward at Cheltenham General was closed to admissions yesterday as a norovirus outbreak there is suspected.

Senior staff within the hospital have been working with the Infection Control Team to ensure that spread of the norovirus within the hospital in minimised. Dr Robert Jackson, Director of Infection, Prevention and Control said: "We would like to reassure people that this kind of bug is one which we are experienced at dealing with in hospital. Measures taken include not transferring patients with the virus from one part of the hospital to another, nursing the patients in available side rooms and therefore reducing the risk of infection and using specific nurses to care for the ill patients and different nurses to care for well patients.

"For affected wards general ward hygiene is important. If staff do become affected it is important that they do not come to work until they have been recovered for 2 full days. Wards with affected patients are closed to admission of new patients until all of the existing patients with illnesses thought to be due to norovirus have been free of symptoms for 48 hours - to reduce the risk of infecting new patients. We monitor the situation closely and only recommend re-opening the ward when no new patients have been affected for 3 days."