Abstract

Several residents on a psychogeriatric ward developed vomiting and diarrhoea within a short time of each other. The causal factor was the highly contagious Norwalk-like virus (NLV) with a high rate of infection amongst both residents and staff (84%). This virus is the most frequent cause of gastroenteritis in institutions. The illness is self-limiting and can be transmitted from person to person. In weakened individuals the course can be serious. The virus can be detected in faeces with modern molecular-biological techniques (reverse transcriptase PCR). The revised law on infectious diseases (‘Infectieziektenwet’) was established in the Netherlands in 1999. This law requires major outbreaks of infectious diseases in institutions as described here to be reported to the Municipal Health Service. Together with this agency, strategies to prevent further spread of the disease can be implemented.