Gastric flu outbreak spreads in Britain

Britain is in the grip of a gastric flu outbreak which has spread from hospitals in Scotland to the south coast, health chiefs said today.

Levels of the virus, which has already affected 12 hospitals in Scotland, are higher than those recorded in the past, said the Public Health Laboratory Service.

The number of people struck down with the viral infection on hospital wards was today expected to rise amid reports of the bug in Manchester, Hertfordshire, Sussex, Dorset and Cornwall. There was also a similar case in Birmingham earlier this month.

So far, Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary has been worst hit with 283 patients and staff hit by the illness.

It has forced emergency admissions to the hospital to be diverted to the city's Southern General Hospital until further notice.

Gastric flu, also known as winter vomiting disease, is caused by a contagious virus that results in projectile vomiting and diarrhoea.

PHLS spokesman Simon Gregor said the bug was present across the country all year round although "we are seeing an increase among baseline levels".

But he was unable to pinpoint specific areas of the outbreak or confirm the amount of patients involved.

"The virus which causes this - the small round structured virus (SRSV) - is the most common cause of gut infection in this country," Mr Gregor said.

"We see over hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of cases each year. It is around all year but there is always a peak in the winter. I think there is quite a lot of it about at the moment and it is perhaps towards the high end of what we have seen in the past but not out of all proportion."

Fears that the bug may be spreading across the country were fuelled when several more hospitals in Scotland confirmed patients had been affected.

It has hit Borders General Hospital in Melrose, Drumchapel Hospital and the Western Infirmary in Glasgow, Ashludie Hospital in Monifieth and Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen.

Other hospitals include the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, and Eastern General Hospital, Edinburgh and two hospitals in Argyll and Clyde.

Asked whether the virus would affect health services, a Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We are monitoring the situation which is what we normally do in situations like this. We will continue to do so."