Virus linked to restaurants

David Henry, the Princeton Borough health officer, said the Borough “has not identified any particular restaurant.”

Henry noted that cases of gastroenteritis began to appear during the University’s Intersession break, when many students eat off campus. He added, though, that finding a specific source of an outbreak is “very rare.”

The Borough has also warned local restaurants to keep workers at home if they experience any gastroenteritis symptoms.

Henry said, however, that there have not been confirmed cases of gastroenteritis caused by norovirus in the Borough or Township. While he said he is aware of anecdotal information, he said there were no stool samples to prove this.

Henry explained that health officials in the Borough and at the University are working to “break the chain of infection.” He added that soap and water are the most effective defense against the virus and that alcohol-based hand sanitizers, such as Purell, have “little or no effect.”

Meanwhile, University Spokesperson Martin Mbugua said in an email that cases are declining and that the infection numbers are “slightly above the average number of cases that are usually seen at this time of year.”

Joseph Amon, the director of the health and human rights division at Human Rights Watch and a former epidemic intelligence officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a visiting professor in the Wilson School and is teaching GHP 351: Epidemiology. He noted that the decline could be attributed to students being more conscientious about washing their hands.

Amon explained that the characteristics of a university make it prone to a gastroenteritis outbreak.

“The most noticeable outbreaks occur on cruise ships, in restaurants, long term care facilities and in schools. Princeton is kind of a long term care facility, a cruise and a restaurant rolled into one,” Amon said.

However, Amon cautioned that even though the number of cases of gastroenteritis is declining the virus can still continue to spread.

“The thing about norovirus is that it stays around in the environment for a little while, and it could be that it gets into a different dorm, or a different social network on campus and then you see a whole bunch of new cases,” he explained.

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Rider University in Lawrenceville has also been struck with the virus. The university had 212 confirmed cases as of Thursday, according to Dan Higgins, the school’s executive director of communications.

Neither Rutgers University nor The College of New Jersey has had any confirmed cases thus far. Matthew Golden, the TCNJ associate vice president for communications and college relations, attributed this partly to luck and partly to a proactive attitude toward prevention.

Daniel Emmer, spokesperson for the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services, said that the state did not have any data about the total number of affected people in Mercer County.