Norovirus was the pathogen responsible for sickening students at Emory University and the University of Virginia last week, health department officials have revealed. At least 89 students at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia sought care for gastrointestinal illness at the health care center or the University Hospital between Nov. 12 and Nov. 14, according to a letter to the school community from Dr. Michael Huey, assistant vice president and executive director of Emory University Student Health and Counseling Services. At the University of Virginia, 18 students were hospitalized and many more were sickened with symptoms of nausea and vomiting last weekend, reported the Daily Progress. After testing samples from those sickened, the health officials investigating each outbreak determined they were caused by Norovirus. Environmental samples collected from both campuses have not yet revealed the source of contamination in either case. “All left over food served in the Dobbs Market on Tuesday, November 11 has been isolated and will now be tested for Norovirus,” wrote Huey in his Nov. 15 letter. Norovirus outbreaks are most common between November and April, when over 80 percent of them occur. The virus is spread more easily where people are living in close quarters and sharing meals, such as on cruise ships, in day care centers or at universities. Huey said Emory sanitized all of its dining facilities Saturday. He wrote, “While most of us are not fond of the smell of chlorine, when you smell it on the Emory campus over the next few days, it is a good thing.”
