More than 250 people have suffered diarrhea and vomiting at homes for the elderly from late December to early January in seven prefectures, including a woman who died in Kanagawa Prefecture, in addition to seven deaths already reported in Hiroshima Prefecture, officials said Sunday.
A woman in her 80s died Wednesday at a nursing home in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, after 46 residents and staff at the facility began suffering from diarrhea and vomiting Dec. 28, the prefectural government said.
The other 45 people are recovering, it said.
Kanagawa authorities said 30 residents and 16 staff members developed the symptoms from Dec. 28 to Saturday.
On Monday, the woman was suffering from diarrhea and vomiting. She died at a hospital two days later.
Elsewhere, 51 elderly people developed similar symptoms in Hokkaido, along with 21 in Kitakyushu, 37 in the city of Miyazaki, 15 in northern Yamaguchi Prefecture, 35 in the city of Wakayama and 54 in Akita Prefecture, according to tallies released by prefectural authorities through Sunday.
The revelation comes after the mysterious death of seven people from diarrhea and vomiting at a nursing home in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture.
Health officials in Fukuyama announced Sunday they have found the contagious Noro virus, symptoms of which include vomiting, diarrhea and fever, in the feces of nine of the residents at Fukuyama Fukujuen nursing home.
They said 62 residents and staff at two nursing homes in Fukuyama other than Fukujuen have also suffered similar symptoms since Wednesday, including four who are still hospitalized.
Fukujuen officials held a meeting with family members of the residents Sunday, but they couldn't to say how the residents and staff were infected with the virus.