SHILOH, IL (KTVI-FOX2now.com)—
More than half the residents of an Illinois assisted living facility have been taken to hospitals after a flu-like virus raced through the building. St. Clair health officials say thirty-three senior citizens from the Fountains at Shiloh were transported by ambulances Thursday night and Friday morning.The health department calls the outbreak a potential norovirus, which is essentially a fast moving stomach flu. Patients all came down with diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Why did so many people come down with it? Health officials say it's highly contagious, and spreads even faster in a closed environment like an assisted living center.
Officials at the Fountains facility say they are limiting visitors right now, and trying to keep the remaining patients separated. It's not a quarantine, but it's close.
"We prefer that they stay in their rooms and they're being given their trays in their rooms and everything's being sanitized and washed down and every precaution they can take to make sure when they do come back they can stay safe," Fountains spokesperson Leah Clark tells us.
Some patients are being kept overnight for observation at area hospitals, while others are returning to Fountains.
Residents aren't the only ones suffering from the virus. We're told the executive director and the head nurse are sick as well.
