Hospitals surrounding Villanova's campus at the end of January were packed full of students with a non-treatable virus.
The norovirus, a type of gastroenteritis that causes severe flu-like symptoms, hit the campus of Villanova University last week, affecting more than 100 students. It caused an increase in visits to the university health center and local hospitals, said Kaitlin Ryan, captain of Villanova Emergency Medical Services.
Rev. John Stack, vice president for student life at Villanova, was out of town and could not be reached for comment, but said in an article published on Jan. 31 by The Villanovan, the university's student newspaper, that it is not uncommon for a university to have a virus outbreak sometime in the school year.
"You typically see the norovirus during winter months," said Dr. Mary McGonigle, director of health services at Villanova. We see a form of it (at Villanova) every year, and in 2006 we actually had quite a few kids sick, but certainly not as many as this year."
"That's what made it more significant; I wouldn't call it a true health scare," she said "I think what was unusual for Villanova is the number of kids that got sick at the same time."
McGonigle notes there were norovirus outbreaks in communities surrounding the university just before classes began for the second semester.
"I don't have a direct source for the outbreak here this year because the kids have all just gotten back from Christmas break and they come from all over the country," she said. "There's always a chance they came back with it from home."
After initial exposure, the virus can be contagious for as long as two weeks.
According to Ryan, the most common symptoms exhibited by the students affected were vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, and dehydration.
Ryan said affected students often times vomited once every few hours, which eventually prevented their bodies from keeping normal fluid levels, resulting in dehydration. In some severe cases, students fainted and were transported from the university health center to nearby hospitals, where they were hooked to IVs to replace fluids.
"I wouldn't necessarily qualify this as a university-wide emergency," Ryan said. "It was more that a large number of people got sick at once and our nurses at the health center don't do IVs, so people had to get transported off campus to local hospitals to get treatment."
The way to contract the virus is not so much through closed areas like dormitory rooms, but rather through direct contact with surfaces that the virus has affected, she said.
Ryan said that the virus also spreads when one student takes care of a fellow student.
Since the virus is spread though contact, the main preventive measures are strict hand- washing and cleaning surfaces, such as in bathrooms and dormitories, McGonigle said.
Although extra staff workers were added to the health center and some nurses worked overtime, the effect of the virus has begun to slow down now that it is in the second week, McGonigle said.
Some students were disappointed that school was still open in light of this situation.
"I know that some of the kids would have loved it if we cancelled all the classes. The deal with the virus is that it has no real treatment other than supportive care," McGonigle said.
iatan@syr.edu
Be the first to comment on this article!