- The rehabilitation ward at Mississauga's Credit Valley
Hospital remains closed as hospital officials battle a highly-contagious
virus.
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- At least 22 adult patients, recovering from surgery,
heart attack and strokes, have become ill since Saturday.
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- Another 11 nurses have also been sickened by the virus,
which hospital officials believe could be the Norwalk Virus.
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- ''We should know within a few days what we're dealing
with,'' hospital spokesperson Wendy Johnson said.
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- Johnson said 12 of the patients are well on their way
to recovering, as are five of the nurses at the hospital located at Eglinton
Ave. W. and Erin Mills Parkway.
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- ''We've quarantined the rehabilitation unit, meaning
no patients have been allowed to see family members,'' Johnson said. ''Notices
have been posted at the entrance to the unit. We called all of the family
members and explained what we're doing. There are 40 patients in the unit.''
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- Johnson said the virus, which causes a sudden onset of
headache, vomitting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, is usually passed through
the air.
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- ''We don't know how it got into the unit,'' Johnson said.
''It could have been brought in my a visitor as far as we know. It could
have been a staff member. It could have been a patient. But once somebody
has it, it's highly-contagious. We hope by closing this unit that we've
been able to contain it.''
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- Johnson said patients must remain symptom-free for at
least 48 hours before they're considered to be non-contagious.
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- ''You're usually sick for two days but even though you're
starting to feel better after that, you're still highly-contagious for
another two days,'' Johnson said.
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- Although the virus is generally not serious, it often
causes mass outbreaks in institutional settings such as schools, hospitals
and nursing homes.
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- In December, a ward at Toronto Western Hospital was shut
down because of an outbreak of the Norwalk Virus. Nine patients and 28
staff were infected.
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- Dozens of students at several schools in north Toronto
were also sickened by the virus in March of 2000 after parents initially
thought they had been suffering from food poisoning.
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- Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto had a similar outbreak
in 1991 when 281 people contracted the virus, forcing the hospital to quarantine
half a dozen wards and turn away ambulances.
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- The virus also closed the Queen's Park child care centre
in 1988 when almost 100 children, parents and day-care workers became ill.
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- But the most serious outbreak occurred between November,
1985, and March, 1986, when Norwalk cases closed Mount Sinai Hospital,
part of Wellesley Hospital, St. Joseph's Health Centre, the Clark Institute
of Psychiatry and Riverdale Hospital in quick succession.
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- Scientists first identified the virus in 1972 after an
outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness in Norwalk, Ohio. Cases occur year-round
but spread most commonly during the winter through contaminated food or
water and person-to-person contact.
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