Hospitals tackle vomiting virus

Link: Hospitals tackle vomiting virus - Yahoo! News UK.

People visiting hospitals in the UK are being told to wash their hands with soap and water to halt a sickness and diarrhoea outbreak which has already closed around 100 wards to new patients. (Advertisement)

NHS bosses said at least 98 wards in 44 UK hospitals have stopped admitting new patients and urged anyone who has been ill not to visit friends or relatives until they have been free from symptoms for at least two days.

The use of alcohol gels to kill other germs has been promoted in hospitals but health bosses have warned that it will not kill the norovirus.

"The gel helps with things like MRSA - norovirus needs soap and water," said Lisa Dunn, a hospital director at the Heart of England NHS Trust in Birmingham.

"People want to use the gel and we are having to explain to them that they need to physically wash their hands, not just use the gel."