Five wards have been temporarily closed, with 35 patients suffering from norovirus. Sixteen staff have also been struck down by the vomiting and diarrhoea illness.
A second case of the bug was confirmed in Althorp ward, along with existing outbrea
ks in Harrowden wards A and C and Deene wards B and C, revealed by the Evening Telegraph yesterday.
Visitors are being asked not to visit friends and relatives in the hospital's main wards unless necessary.
There are hopes that Harrowden C and Deene C could re-open on Monday as on those wards there have been no new cases of the illness, which broke out at the hospital last weekend.
Kettering Hospital's lead nurse for infection control, Dawn Westmoreland, said: "The nature of norovirus is that it causes symptoms very quickly but equally people recover very quickly, usually within two to three days of experiencing the first symptoms. Those areas affected early on now have patients who have been symptom free for more than two days.
"However we are waiting for longer and deep cleaning these areas before reopening them to prevent re-infection."Main symptoms are vomiting, with or without diarrhoea.
It usually lasts two to three days although it can last longer. It is spread from hand to mouth but the hospital said a number of measures had been put in place to reduce the risk of infection.
Extra cleaning has been carried out to reduce the amount of virus particles in the environment.
One woman, who asked not to be named, said when she went to visit her husband in hospital, she was asked to stay away. She said: "I was told that I should really stay away because of the virus.
"They said it could go into next week."
