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A Welsh hospital board has warned people to wash their hands after going to the supermarket because trolley handles could harbour viruses.
The Swansea Bay University Health Board said norovirus – a bug which causes diarrhoea and vomiting and circulates in winter could spread through the handles. Officials urged people to wash their hands with soap and water after visiting busy areas such as hospitals and supermarkets.
It comes after 75 people at hospitals in the seaside town became infected with the illness in a two-week period. Although norovirus is unpleasant and spreads easily, it is common, rarely serious and tends to disappear on its own after a couple of days.
A matron at the Swansea health board, Joanne Walters, said: ‘Good hand hygiene is essential, especially after going to the loo, before and after eating and touching items that lots of other people will have touched such as shopping trolleys, door handles and TV remote controls.
‘Always use soap and water. Hand sanitizers do not kill norovirus. They do work against lots of bacteria and viruses, including flu, but not norovirus. ‘Do not share items like towels and flannels if you are unwell.’
To avoid spreading the illness, medics recommend patients stay home from work or school and avoid public transport. The virus can be transmitted from person to person through close contact, touching the same surfaces, or eating food handled by someone else.
Ms Walters added: ‘This is the norovirus season traditionally so we would expect to see it circulating. ‘We just need people to be aware that they don’t need to present themselves to hospital if they have this virus. ‘They can manage their symptoms at home and reduce the spread of infection by not going to communal areas.
‘Even when your symptoms stop you continue to be infectious, you continue to shed the virus for up to 48 hours, and as long as 72 hours, afterwards.’
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