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The Collier County Health Department is awaiting laboratory results that could help explain what type of virus has stricken residents of the ManorCare Health Services, a 118-bed nursing home in East Naples.

A total of 47 residents became ill late last week from what could be the Norwalk virus with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, said Deb Millsap, spokeswoman for the health department. The nursing home is at 3601 Lakewood Blvd.

“Only eight of them are ill at this time because the recovery is relatively quick,” she said. “The thought is it is very much under control and they’re past the worst part of the incident.”

Norwalk virus, from the norovirus class, can cause acute gastroenteritis in humans and is the outbreak that often afflicts cruise ship passengers because of how easy and quickly it spreads among people living in close quarters. The same holds true for nursing homes and other health-care centers.

ManorCare administrators contacted the health department, who sent epidemiology staff to the nursing home to collect specimens for a laboratory analysis. The test results should be back Thursday, Millsap said.

Administrators at the nursing home couldn’t be reached for comment.

“The center has taken a proactive approach in an attempt to curb this illness,” Julie Beckert, spokeswoman for HCR-ManorCare, the Toledo, Ohio-based corporate owner of the Naples nursing home, said in a statement.

“Working with the local health department, the center has implemented an infection control plan. All residents with flu-like symptoms were isolated from other residents, an educational in-service has been conducted on infection control guidelines and as part of our protocol, we are advising visitors about the issue and have posted precautionary measures to take. We are confident that the steps the center has taken have helped curtail the virus.”

Beckert said HCR-ManorCare doesn’t have confirmation as to what type of illness has struck residents, only that they have flu-like symptoms.

Millsap, with the health department, said it is likely the Norwalk virus based on the illness symptoms and how quickly it spread.

Nobody has been hospitalized as a result of the infection, she said.

The virus spreads by people in food preparation, by touching contaminated surfaces or objects and then placing one’s hands in his or her mouth, or having direct contact with someone who is infected. Both stool and vomit are infectious, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Each year, the health department usually sees one or two outbreaks at nursing homes or other long-term care facilities, Millsap said

The incubation period is 12 to 48 hours and symptoms will clear up after 24 to 48 hours. There are no anti-viral medications that work against it and there is no vaccine to prevent infection. Care cleaning of closed environments is necessary.

The health department has recommended that no new residents be admitted in the interim until the virus has been resolved. Likewise, staff and residents have been advised about good hygiene habits of frequent handwashing and covering their mouths when sneezing.