The number of residents at Wolf Willow Health Centre in Eastend with signs and symptoms of an unconfirmed enteric illness has increased since yesterday when an outbreak was declared.

There's been a restriction on visiting and the health region's Dr. David Torr said it looks like norovirus. Torr also said there are cases that look like infection in the community.

Since norovirus travels quickly, Torr said it can affect anyone.

"Everybody's at risk. The problem with norovirus is that you don't need a very heavy dose to get it. A very small dose will give you the infection. Again, that's where we emphasis the importance of hand hygeine. We're always touching surfaces, shaking hands, hands are always busy. So make sure they are cleaned as many times as possible throughout the day."

Viral gastroenteritis (enteric illness) is inflammation of the stomach as well as small and large intestines. Viral gastroenteritis is an infection caused by a variety of viruses that result in vomiting or diarrhea. It's not to be confused with stomach flu or influenza.

"It may not be that it's spreading outside of the centre, it could be that it's coming from outside of the centre into the centre," said Torr. "It works both ways. What we are doing is making sure no further illness comes into the facility, so we've restricted or stopped visitations. At the same time we don't want any infection going outside of the facility to the community, so our staff will be very meticulous and they're using many measures to make sure we don't have the spread of infection."

On Tuesday morning Torr said they hadn't been able to collect any samples yet, but once they do results will come within 24 hours.

"A lot of older people may be having other conditions that weaken them, so we have to pay a lot of attention to that," said Torr. "Yeah, they can be more susceptible to dehydration and much more weakness from this infection. But even for healthy adults it can be quite an exhaustive experience to put it mildly."

Generally infected people recover completely, though they can be at risk if they're unable to recover fluids lost through diarrhea or vomiting.