Mystery illness sickens 174 students at Pennsylvania college

A total of 185 Ursinus College students have contacted the student health center since a gastrointestinal illness outbreak started a couple days ago.

Ursinus college says 17 of the 40 students reporting symptoms such as vomiting and stomach pain have been treated at a local hospital.

While the exact cause of the outbreak remains undiscovered, a common thread amongst patients seems to be eating at the on-campus dining hall.

Although norovirus is suspected, public health officials of the Pennsylvania county wrote that the source of the illness has not yet been identified and that precautions should be taken to prevent potential foodborne or person-to-person transmission. “Obviously, special attention is being paid to the areas where students have been sick overnight”.

Officials said 100 students were sickened as of Wednesday afternoon. Weekend events have also been canceled.

Symptoms of the infection include nausea, diarrhea and vomiting.

“Ursinus’ first priority is the health and well-being of our students”, said Brock Blomberg, the college’s president. Testing results could take up to a week, according to health officials.

The college on Wednesday closed its dining halls and snack bar to allow health officials do their investigation and, later, to perform a complete cleaning and sanitizing of those areas as well as shared common areas. Steve Carcarey from the Collegeville Italian Bakery tells us, “We’re making possibly 600 hoagies multiple of turkey, Italian, roast beef, veggies – so they’re really taking care of the students in this situation”.