Highly contagious virus hits Mater Dei

Liquid soap shortage contributing to spread of virus Frequent hand-washing necessary to prevent bug Patients who have the virus placed in same ward as precaution

A virus known to be highly contagious, the norovirus, has infected a number of patients at Mater Dei Hospital and, as a precaution, the patients affected have been placed in the same ward, this newspaper is informed.

This virus appears in environments with poor hygiene or as the result of handling contaminated objects or touching contaminated surfaces. One way of combating the virus is frequent hand-washing.

However, if you thought that Mater Dei only falls short of medicines, think again. A shortage of liquid soap at the hospital may be contributing to the spread of the virus, according to sources within the healthcare industry talking to this newspaper.

The Health Ministry, when questioned by this newspaper, denied that there is a lack of soap at the hospital. The ministry yesterday confirmed one current case of norovirus, four suspected cases and 12 cases of patients carrying the virus. All cases, the ministry said, have been isolated.

Norovirus can infect anyone. The virus causes the stomach or intestines – or both – to become inflamed, which leads to stomach pain, nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting.

The virus, which is different from the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) virus, can make people violently ill so quickly that they do not have time to get to the bathroom, said Doug Powell, a food safety expert in Brisbane, Australia, in reaction to a report issued by Centres for Disease Control and Prevention tied to the virus. The report was published in USA Today on Tuesday.

The report found that as few as 18 viral particles can make people sick. In other words, a speck of virus small enough to fit on the head of a pin is sufficiently potent to infect more than 1,000 people.

The virus can spread rapidly in close quarters such as dormitories, military barracks, nursing homes and hospitals, but longterm care facilities are by far the most common settings for norovirus outbreaks, dwarfing the number of outbreaks in hospitals.

The report did not offer any explanations as to why there are many more outbreaks of norovirus in long-term care facilities than in hospitals.

People who get sick in public often expose many others to the virus as well. Norovirus can live on surfaces for up to two weeks and is also called the ‘terminator’ of germs, because it is very difficult to kill.

The report revealed that the virus is the leading cause of food-borne illness in the US, and has become known as the “cruise ship virus” for causing mass outbreaks of food poisoning – and misery – on the high seas. Yet, only about one per cent of all reported norovirus outbreaks occur on cruise ships, according to the report.

The report showed that food handlers such as cooks and waiters cause about 70 per cent of norovirus outbreaks related to contaminated food, mostly through touching “ready to eat” food such as sandwiches or raw fruit with their bare hands. More than 90 per cent of contamination occurred during food preparation, and 75 per cent of the food involved in outbreaks was eaten raw.

Norovirus illness is usually brief in people who are otherwise healthy. Young children, the elderly and those with other medical illnesses are most at risk puff more severe or prolonged infection.

During a parliamentary select committee on health meeting held on Wednesday, consultant microbiologist Chris Barbara was quoted as saying that the rate of hospital-acquired infections at Mater Dei Hospital, the Gozo General Hospital and St James Hospital was 4.6 per cent, well below the EU average.

Mater Dei Hospital was expected to have a rate of five per cent but it transpires that it stands at 4.6 per cent, despite a bed capacity of over 800.

Both MRSA and the norovirus are antibiotic resistant.

Mr Barbara said that one of the major factors responsible for antibiotic resistant organisms is the overuse of antibiotics in any setting –the hospital or the community.