About 20 people overcome with dizziness, nausea at New Hampshire hospital

Last Updated: 2017-08-11

By Reuters Staff

NEW YORK (Reuters) - About 20 patients and staff were evacuated from a hospital in Exeter, New Hampshire, on Friday and treated for dizziness, nausea and vomiting, a hospital spokeswoman said.

By midday, officials at Exeter Hospital had yet to determine what caused the incident, which began between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. (1230 and 1300 GMT), when five staff members complained of feeling dizzy, spokeswoman Debra Vasapolli said.

Patients and other staff members in the hospital's operating room later became ill, she said.

"No source has been determined at this point," Vasapolli said. "In an abundance of caution . . . we evacuated the O.R. and closed it, as well as the emergency department, until we can determine the source."

The affected staff and patients were being treated in the parking lot and on grassy areas outside the hospital, which is about 50 miles (80 km) north of Boston, and were being sent to a number of other facilities, Vasapolli said.

The fire department in neighboring Kingston said it sent two ambulances to the scene.