THE medical ward at Tavistock Hospital this week was re-opened for admissions, following an outbreak of the Norwalk virus.

The hospital had been closed to in-patient admissions for ten days, after 15 staff members and six patients were struck by the high infectious illness, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea.

The infection control policy was lifted on Tuesday because there had been no fresh cases of the virus reported over the weekend.

Philippa Bridle, the hospital?s locality manager, said every part of the building had been thoroughly disinfected before the all-clear was given.

?We?ve done a deep clean of all the ward areas, including carpets and curtains,? she said.

?But we?re still being very stringent. Everyone coming in is being asked to wash their hands with disinfectant hand gel.?

She said the mystery bug was confirmed as the Norwalk virus last Thursday (April 24), when the worst of the outbreak was over.

Signs of the infection had first appeared almost two weeks ago, when three people at the hospital developed the same symptoms on the same day.

Mrs Bridle said the cause of the outbreak was unknown.

?It?s often difficult to trace the origin of this kind of thing,? she said.

?We managed to contain it quite well. Although it?s quite a self-limiting virus, and only lasts about 48 hours, it spreads very easily in the air.?

She said everyone who had contracted the illness had now fully recovered, and all the staff affected were back at work.