A VIRULANT stomach bug causing vomiting and diarrhoea has forced the closure of a ward at a North-East hospital.

A total of 13 people have so far been struck down by the virus at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.

The debilitating bug hit the ward earlier this week and has already affected nine patients and four members of staff.

Hospital chiefs say ward 11 - an acute medicine ward - was closed on Tuesday to new admissions when the first signs of the virus became known.

Patients hit by the bug are now being kept on the ward while ill patients have been sent home and told not to return until all symptoms have gone.

A spokeswoman for South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust said they were unsure where the bug had come from, but suspected it probably came from a community source.

She said: "We can confirm we have closed a ward at the James Cook University Hospital to new patients as a precautionary measure following an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting.

"A total of nine patients and four staff are affected and the trust's infection control team is monitoring the situation closely.

"Patients waiting to be discharged to other hospitals, nursing and residential homes will currently stay on the ward to avoid the risk of cross infection."

The spread of the viral form of gastro-enteritis - or sickness and diarrhoea as it's more commonly known - means patients due to be transferred to other hospitals or nursing homes have to remain in the ward.

This week's attack isn't the first at the hospital this year. Ten patients and a staff member at the hospital were affected by a 'winter vomiting' bug in January.

Eight patients and two members of staff were also taken ill with a similar virus at Middlesbrough General Hospital earlier this year. Again, infection control measures were put in place.

In other outbreaks, six patients at the University Hospital of North Tees and a number of people at Darlington Memorial Hospital were also affected.