100 guests and staff struck down by norovirus at five-star Gleneagles Hotel

Scotland's most famous hotel is being investigated after more than 100 people began suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea symptoms.

NHS Tayside's health protection team and environmental health officers from Perth and Kinross Council are investigating a number of cases of suspected norovirus in people connected to the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder.

More than 100 people have reported symptoms over the past week at the Perthshire hotel. The people affected include guests, staff and golfers using the hotel.

Staff at the hotel are working closely with NHS Tayside and Perth and Kinross Council to implement all the recommended infection control measures.

Dorothy Welsh, marketing director at the hotel, said the symptoms had been reported last Saturday.

She said guests checking in to the hotel were not informed of the outbreak, in line with advice from NHS Tayside that it was not necessary.

"We have been following the guidelines from NHS Tayside throughout," Ms Welsh said.

She added the hotel was continuing to work with the health board to establish the cause of the outbreak.

She added: "We are glad to report nearly everyone is fully recovered. Only a handful of people are not fully back to health. We are not aware of anybody being taken into hospital.

"The health board is carrying out tests. We have people arriving and leaving and using different facilities all the time. It is in a number of different communities so the origin could be difficult to establish.

"The hotel is full and it's business as usual. With this type of virus the symptoms usually last for 48 hours."

A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said the hotel had made them aware of the virus as soon as it happened and investigations had started on Monday. She added they had not advised the hotel to close and had given infection advice.

A statement from the health board said: "As always, anyone suffering from similar symptoms should be very careful with their hand hygiene and should remain at home until 48 hours after their symptoms have cleared up.

"If people are concerned about their health they should contact their own GP or NHS 24 on 08454 24 24 24 in the out-of-hours period."

The hotel is home to Scotland’s only two-star Michelin star restaurant, Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles and it hosted the international G8 summit in July, 2005. It will also host the Ryder Cup golf tournament in 2014. Room rates at the hotel typically start at around £300.

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