Norovirus Blamed in Outbreak
at
By Susan Kinzie
Thursday, October 2, 2008;
3:04 PM
Source of Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/10/02/ST2008100202174.html
The cause of more than 146
The virus can be transmitted by direct contact with
an infected person, eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated liquid,
or by hand-to-mouth contact after touching an object that is contaminated.
Officials made the announcement as the university
dining hall remained closed today.
Administrators were alerted to the growing number
of students suffering from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea late Tuesday and
decided to shut down the campus dining hall yesterday. Many of the students who
became ill had eaten at the Leo J. O'Donovan Dining Hall, known as Leo's.
In an e-mail message to the campus community this
morning, Todd A. Olson, vice president for student affairs, assured students
that the meals provided temporarily at the student center today were from fresh
deliveries, with no exposure to the food preparation areas at Leo's.
All of the affected students have been treated and
released. Some were so sick that their heart rates were elevated by
dehydration, Eric Glasser, assistant chief of
emergency medicine at
University officials notified students about the
illness and the closing of the dining hall with an early morning e-mail
yesterday, causing a stir among students focused on midterm exams.
"I'm grossed out by the whole thing, definitely,"
said freshman Charlie Nocker, who was eating chicken
nuggets, rice and cookies at the student center. The night before, he had
talked to a friend who had rushed her roommate to the hospital instead of
studying for two exams. "She's really slammed," Nocker
said.
Many students said they weren't particularly
worried about becoming ill. Some even celebrated briefly yesterday afternoon:
Study-group members in the student center hugged when they got an e-mail
announcing that their exam would be delayed.
Food services at
Public health officials are questioning students
about where and what they ate, collecting food samples and checking the
preparation of meals and the sources of food, said Peggy Keller, chief of the
bureau of community hygiene for the D.C. health department. They were hoping to
finish within 48 hours, she said.
John Davies-Cole of the health department said he
did not know when the dining hall was last inspected. Olson said it is
inspected at least a couple of times a year. "We have gotten very high
marks for cleanliness and safety," Olson said.
Although the investigation was ongoing, some
students said that some of the people who became sick had eaten the Hoya Wrap.
Named after the school's nickname, it's a pre-made sandwich with chicken and
sauce wrapped in a tortilla.
Taylor Dana, a pre-med freshman from
Dana was one of the first students there, she said,
and doctors initially wanted to check for appendicitis or other possible causes
of the acute pain. But within minutes, Dana said, the halls were full of other
students arriving and being put into beds.
"I could hear they were all throwing up,"
she said yesterday afternoon, looking exhausted in sweat pants and flip-flops.
"It was really bad."
After getting fluids by IV and some stomach pain
relievers, she was able to get some sleep, and she left the hospital early
yesterday. On her way out, she saw a crew teammate, just checking into the
hospital with the same symptoms.
________________________________________________________
Copyright (C) All rights reserved
under FoodHACCP.com
If
you have any comments, please send your
email to info@foodhaccp.com
