A medical director from the US West Coast is the latest to report that he and his family were struck down by a mystery illness at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel two weeks ago.

And food served to an international doctors? conference hosted by the hotel appears even less likely to be the key source of the sickness after Brett Stacey reported his wife, young son and mother-in-law never touched any of the conference food yet still came down with illness.

Laboratory tests to identify the source of the illness, which is thought to have affected anywhere from 51 to more than 200 people, are due to be completed today. Dr. Stacey?s wife spent 15 hours at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital after being taken ill at the hotel.

She also needed to make a brief return to hospital when the family returned to Oregon.

His son became ill on the afternoon of Saturday, October 28 and spent five hours in hospital. Dr. Stacey?s mother-in-law became ill after she returned to the US.

?We all only ate at the hotel,? explained Dr. Stacey, who said he was distressed by the way hotel management had handled the situation during the Ninth International Conference on Mechanisms and Treatment of Neuropathic Pain.

The medical director of the comprehensive pain centre at the Oregon Health and Science University said the Fairmont management had told him that everyone who was ill had been in the meeting area and that all who had been taken ill had been interviewed.

Dr. Stacey said: ?Several people on our plane as we were leaving had been ill but had not notified the hotel and were not aware there was a problem. Some of them had nothing to do with the conference.?

The Oregon-based doctor was also affected by the sickness but claims details about his family and their illness were not collected by the hotel or the health department.

At the height of the illness outbreak ambulances were called to the hotel to take a number of people to hospital suffering from stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting.

Some of those taken ill required intravenous medication and a number of homeward-bound guests became sick on an Air Canada flight, which resulted in the plane being temporarily quarantined when it landed in Toronto. has since learned that delegates at four separate conference events at the hotel, and a number of guests who were not with any of the organised groups.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann expects the full results from lab tests to be completed by the middle of this week. In his most recent statement Fairmont Hotel and Resorts Bermuda managing director Norman Mastalir said: ?Despite a thorough initial investigation conducted by our local health authorities, the cause and origin of the stomach upsets is still unknown.

?We will continue to work with our local authorities to determine the source and, as a further precaution, have engaged our own expert consultants to assist us in the ongoing inquiry. We will share more information as it becomes available.?