The skilled nursing facility at Sonoma Valley Hospital has not admitted any new patients since Tuesday due to an outbreak of viral gastroenteritis. The hospital saw nine cases of the gastroenteritis last week and another four or five this week.
“When it’s in the community, it winds up in the hospital,” said Mary Kelly, chief nursing officer for the hospital. “It’s everywhere – it’s at Starbucks, it’s at the market.”
Frequent washing of hands with hot water and soap is the best prevention. Antibacterial gels are not sufficient for preventing transmission. The symptoms, diarrhea and vomiting, last about 24 hours and those stricken should stay in bed and drink lots of fluids. Dehydration is particularly a concern for older people.
Viral gastroenteritis is endemic to the county and there are often spates of cases in facilities where people are in close contact, according to Dr. Mark Netherda, deputy public health officer for Sonoma County. That can include nursing facilities, schools, even sports teams. Netherda said many players on the San Jose Sharks recently suffered the illness.
He said there have been similar cases in other parts of the county recently, but not an unusually high number. Various viruses can cause gastroenteritis, including norovirus, which is of special concern since it is so highly infectious. The cases at the hospital have not been confirmed as norovirus. However, the treatment is the same regardless of the cause, as well as the precautions taken by staff. Staff members try to limit contact among patients, having people dine in their rooms and cutting down on the usual social activities. They also try to avoid having the same nurse working on lots of different patients or in different units.
“We try to limit it and ride it out,” said Dr. Netherda.
The hospital checks in with the Sonoma County Department of Public Health each day. There was one new case in skilled nursing reported on Thursday.
Viral gastroenteritis hits hospital’s skilled nursing
More from What's HappeningMore posts in What's Happening »