A SALMONELLA outbreak has resulted in five cases of infectious diarrhoea among patients in a Co Wexford psychiatric hospital.
Four of the affected patients at St Senan's Hospital in Enniscorthy are recovering in a reserved area while a fifth patient has been transferred to Wexford General Hospital for treatment of an unrelated chest condition.
According to the hospital's chief psychiatrist, Dr Goffrey O'Donohoe, a possible source for the infection has been identified. It is suspected that the first patient affected had access to raw meat trimmings, he said. And it appeared the other cases developed as a result of person-to-person contact.
He stressed that the outbreak was confined to one ward and said all necessary steps were being taken to contain the infection.