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About 30 students sickened with norovirus

By ASSOCIATED PRESS Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - 7:33 a.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) As many as 30 students at UW-Madison are sick with the norovirus.

Many of the students live in the Sellery dormitory.

Symptoms of norovirus illness usually include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and some stomach cramping. Those affected can also have a low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and a general sense of tiredness.

Health officials aren't considering it an outbreak because the virus has been contained.

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janesvillean
Nov 12, 2008 at 12:29 p.m.
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onelife2live, when you have what is still commonly called "stomach flu" (but also gastroenteritis or food poisoning), you actually have a norovirus (formerly called a Norwalk virus). Like influenza, this virus can spread quickly in enclosed conditions such as a dormitory, hotel, or cruise ship, but unlike influenza, seems to not spread easily through the air (e.g. coughing) but from surface to surface (e.g. doorknobs, railings). There is no vaccine, as unlike influenza, outbreaks are harder to predict and involve a wider variety of viruses. A flu shot will not prevent a norovirus infection.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/gast...

Northman
Nov 12, 2008 at 11:29 a.m.
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Hmmm, we have a college, a dormitory, and symptoms that almost exactly duplicate a bad hangover. How did they ever figure out it was a virus? Maybe because it was a Tuesday morning, with no parties last night? If this had been a Saturday, I’d say odds against getting it diagnosed properly!

onelife2live
Nov 12, 2008 at 11:02 a.m.
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That dormitory must be smelling prety ripe about now..

Is this a flu type illness...seems like the same syptoms

totellthetruth
Nov 12, 2008 at 10:54 a.m.
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Just remind everyone that you can spread this up to 72 hours after your symptoms have disappeared. Spread through Fecal-Oral route and airborne. wash your hands!

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