Virus outbreak at LGH

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD

andy.blatchford@transcontinental.ca

The Lakeshore General Hospital closed off one of its wards on Sunday following a virus outbreak that struck 26 patients.

Officials expect results today from samples sent to a public health laboratory in Ste. Anne de Bellevue. Staff in the hospital’s infection control department say symptoms suggest the outbreak is viral gastroenteritis, spokesman Louis-Pascal Cyr said yesterday.

Fourteen out of 34 patients in the LGH’s 3 North geriatric unit showed signs of the infection, which include “very sudden diarrhea and vomiting,� Cyr said. The hospital closed the wing to visitors and those with symptoms are in isolation.

“Public health tells us that there are quite a few outbreaks of gastro on the island of Montreal and that other establishments have seen a rise,� he said. “It spreads pretty quickly.�

Cyr said the Pointe Claire institution had a similar outbreak at this time last year.

“It’s part of the life of a health institution this time of the year,� he said. “You cannot control the situation to a point where there’s no case . . . it’s the containment that is the mission of infection control.�

Patients will remain in isolation until they show no signs of the virus for three days, he added.

Gastroenteritis can be transmitted by ingesting germs, which often occurs when somebody touches a contaminated object and later puts their hand in their mouth, Cyr said.