Second stomach bug outbreak hits Street, spreads after weekend club initiations

Late last week the University saw the beginning of its second outbreak of acute gastroenteritis in as many months, University Chief Medical Officer Dr. Daniel Silverman said.

While it appeared initially like the outbreak may have been contained by Saturday afternoon, McCosh saw a resurgence of cases overnight Saturday into Sunday, admitting more than 20 students for symptoms that included dehydration, nausea, diarrhea and sometimes vomiting, Silverman said.

"University Health Services is responding to and treating these students to make sure they're well taken care of," Media Relations Specialist Patricia Allen said.

While the current outbreak has affected more students than the episode at Colonial Club three weeks ago, the symptoms associated with the second outbreak have generally been less severe and subsided more quickly. Most students are making a full recovery in about 24 hours, Silverman said.

Initially, all the students admitted were from a single eating club. Over the course of the weekend, however, Health Center staff treated students from at least three clubs and several non-club members. Based on the pattern of infections, Silverman said he thought it was unlikely that the cause of the illness was food-based.

Viruses of this type are often easily spread by physical contact, Silverman added, which may explain the number of cases seen after Saturday night when eating clubs were initiating new members.

Three weeks ago, most of the students affected had eaten a particular meal at Colonial. According to an email from the club's House Manager, a subsequent investigation found the cause of the illness to be viral rather than bacterial and found no health code violations in the food preparation area.

Sophomore Nate Lowery began to feel sick after returning to his room early Sunday morning following initiations. He arrived at McCosh early in the afternoon. There were only a few other people with similar symptoms.

However, he said that when he woke up several hours later, "there were about 20 kids with the same stuff and [the staff] seemed to have realized there was something going on."

In response to the two outbreaks, Silverman emailed the managers of all of the eating clubs with suggestions about how to help prevent transmission of similar illnesses in the future. He suggested that each club consider making alcohol-based hand sanitizers available to its members and staff. The sanitizers are more effective disinfectants than ordinary soap and water, he said.