A WARD at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital was closed to new patients this week after an outbreak of the Norwalk virus.

And in two other wards patients with a different illness were isolated for a time.

There were four confirmed cases of Norwalk, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting, among patients on Fielding ward as the problem peaked on Wednesday.

A further 18 patients suffered symptoms of the Norwalk virus, although they were later given the all-clear.

Dunkery and Sedgemoor wards were also closed to admissions as two people were diagnosed with Clostridium Difficle (CDiff) in the former and 12 beds were isolated in the latter.

For the full story, see this week's Somerset County Gazette.