Hotel closed in Washington with 150 guests suffering from vomit and diarrhea

A hotel near a Washington, D.C., airport was closed for cleaning after as many as 150 guests were sickened by the highly contagious norovirus, hotel and county health officials said.

Photo: Hotel closed in Washington with 150 guests suffering from vomit and diarrhea

The employees at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City hotel, near Ronald Reagan National Airport, were also sickened by the virus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea, said Diana Sun, an Arlington County spokeswoman, the AP reports.

Illnesses were first reported Monday by people who attended two conferences at the Hyatt, Sun said. The hotel stopped accepting new guests Thursday after more reported getting sick, and tests late Thursday confirmed norovirus.

"The hotel, top to bottom, will be disinfected and cleaned - wall to wall," said Jean-Marc Dizard, the hotel's general manager. "All the guest rooms, the kitchens and the banquet facilities."

Norovirus is common on cruise ships and in places such as hotels, prisons and nursing homes.