Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Bracing for 'stomach bugs'
Viruses peak in the coldest months in hospitals and nursing homes.
By Tim Darragh, OF THE MORNING CALL
12:28 a.m. EST, December 29, 2010
Infectious disease specialists call them noroviruses that cause "non-clostridium difficile acute gastroenteritis."
We call them "stomach bugs" that send you scurrying to the bathroom.
Hospitals and nursing homes call them dangerous germs that can sicken, and even kill, patients and residents. With the calendar turning to the coldest months of the year, hospitals and nursing homes are hunkering down as they face the peak season for virus outbreaks in their facilities.
The numbers bear out the reason for concern. In the first three months of this year, nursing homes in Pennsylvania reported 4,040 norovirus cases ? nearly twice as many as those reported in all the nine prior months combined. The data, reported this month by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, also found hospital infections peaked in the first quarter of the year, although not as dramatically as in nursing homes.
More...
http://www.mcall.com/health/mc-allentown-hospital-nursing-home-vi20101228,0,1475316.story
Viruses peak in the coldest months in hospitals and nursing homes.
By Tim Darragh, OF THE MORNING CALL
12:28 a.m. EST, December 29, 2010
Infectious disease specialists call them noroviruses that cause "non-clostridium difficile acute gastroenteritis."
We call them "stomach bugs" that send you scurrying to the bathroom.
Hospitals and nursing homes call them dangerous germs that can sicken, and even kill, patients and residents. With the calendar turning to the coldest months of the year, hospitals and nursing homes are hunkering down as they face the peak season for virus outbreaks in their facilities.
The numbers bear out the reason for concern. In the first three months of this year, nursing homes in Pennsylvania reported 4,040 norovirus cases ? nearly twice as many as those reported in all the nine prior months combined. The data, reported this month by the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, also found hospital infections peaked in the first quarter of the year, although not as dramatically as in nursing homes.
More...
http://www.mcall.com/health/mc-allentown-hospital-nursing-home-vi20101228,0,1475316.story