Scotland norovirus cases second highest in decade

CASES of the winter vomiting bug in Scotland have hit their second highest level in a decade, figures show.

• Norovirus cases rise to second highest levels in a decade in Scotland

• Over 2,900 norovirus lab reports recorded in 2012, a 75 per cent increase from 2011

Health Protection Scotland (HPS) said they received 2,915 lab reports of the bug - also known as norovirus - in 2012, up almost 75 per cent on the 1,247 cases recorded in 2011.

The total is only slightly less than the 3,109 reported cases of the bug seen in 2010.

And it is estimated that for every reported case of norovirus, 290 cases will occur in patients in the community who are not tested, meaning over 845,000 people in Scotland will have suffered from the sickness.

It comes after it emerged that hundreds of patients have been left waiting in accident and emergency departments in Scotland this winter as hospitals struggled to cope with increased levels of illness.