A mystery illness that struck guests at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel three weeks ago appears to have been a strain of virus commonly known as the ?winter vomiting disease? and can cause violent vomiting and be spread easily between people.

In recent days there have been no new cases reported, indicating that joint efforts by the hotel management and the Department of Health have succeeded in containing the virus.

But the source of the illness, which may have affected more than 200 guests and staff including a number of international doctors and medical professionals attending a conference, has still to be found. Laboratory tests so far completed appear to show the illness belongs to the norovirus family, the most well-known of those viruses is the Norwalk virus which has been known to close entire schools and quarantine hospitals in places like the UK and US because of its contagious nature.

Bermuda?s Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann said: ?We have results from a sample which leads us to believe it is a viral gastroenteritis ? an irritation of the stomach ? that can be spread by a number of routes.

?It is a form of virus, the Norwalk-like group of virus. We would like to confirm its source. It can be passed on through hand and mouth contact, through water and food, person-to-person contact and respiratory.?

What is still eluding the investigation is the initial source of the illness that affected so many guests at the hotel with a number being taken to hospital by ambulance and given intravenous medication. Further tests, including some being undertaken overseas, are yet to be concluded.

It is possible the vital clue that will pinpoint the source of the illness may not be found in the samples taken.

According to Dr. Cann because some hotel staff were also taken ill it is unlikely a single food source was not to blame, however that cannot be ascertained for sure until all samples of water and food have been fully tested.

The Chief Medical Officer praised the hotel for work it has done to reduce the virus from spreading further. This has been achieved through upgrading food preparation areas and practices, placing hand sanitisers in guests? rooms and providing information letters to guests.

?We have had a decline in the number of cases reported and for a period have had no new cases. It appears at this point the situation has been contained,? he said. Reports of the illness spreading through identifiable groups, such as four separate conferences being held simultaneously at the hotel at the end of October bears out the theory the virus belongs to the norovirus family and commonly spreads from person to person.

Dr. Cann said: ?What we don?t have is evidence that this was the initial way the people were exposed to the virus.?

The number of people affected is through to be at least 51 and may be higher than 200.

One of the difficulties in calculating how many people were hit by the virus is the variable time it takes for symptoms to show up in some people.

There were reports of people becoming ill during airplane flights back to North America, including the instance of one Air Canada flight being temporarily quarantined when it landed at Toronto after a number of passengers became violently ill returning from Bermuda.

Doctors and medical professionals from various parts of the US have since contacted relating their experiences in the wake of attending the Ninth International Conference on Mechanisms and Treatment of Neuropathic Pain at the hotel. A number of delegates at the doctors? conference were affected. Norman Mastalir, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts managing director in Bermuda, said: ?We understand that our colleagues at the Department of Health have identified that the illness affecting some of our guests is a viral gastroenteritis.

?The most probable agent is norovirus. Symptoms tend to last 24 ? 48 hours at which time they generally subside and the individual returns to normal health.

?On the advice of local heath authorities and our own experts, we have been treating the outbreak as norovirus from the beginning.

?We have taken and continue to take every precautionary measure that has been recommended to us to protect the health and safety of our guests and staff.?