Plea to restrict visits as vomiting bug spreads

People in Dublin were today being asked to restrict visits to hospitals in the area as an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug continued to spread.

The number of confirmed cases at Beaumont Hospital, where the outbreak began, stood at 27 with a further 88 patients displaying symptoms, a spokesman said.

Cases were confirmed at the city’s St James and St Vincent’s Hospitals, with Tallaght Hospital also reporting suspected cases.

All non-emergency surgery was still being cancelled at Beaumont Hospital and was not expected to resume for the next week or two, spokesman John Stanley said. He said there was still a “long way to go” in bringing the outbreak under control.

He said: “Our best guess is that it is unlikely that we are going to be back to taking elective patients for another week to two weeks.

“Unfortunately 88 suspected cases in a hospital with 630 beds is still a very large proportion. The virus is still there and we have to be as rigorous as ever and operate very tight controls.

“It has all the appearances that we are beginning to get it under control, but there is still a long way to go.”

He said people were being urged not to visit affected Accident and Emergency departments unless absolutely necessary, for fear of spreading the sickness bug.

A spokeswoman for the Eastern Regional Health Authority said six cases were confirmed at St James Hospital, and one at St Vincent’s University Hospital.

She said: “The whole thing has put an awful lot of pressure on the A&E departments, with beds lying empty due to fear of reinfection.

“We are advising people who think they have the bug to stay at home and don’t go near a hospital. If it is persistent call out your GP rather than going in to the surgery.”

Earlier in the week she advised the public: “This is a 24 to 48 hour sickness bug, it is not a very serious illness. The problem is that it means beds cannot be made available for fear of infection.”