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Illness at NCAA meet: Swimmers have norovirus
Public-health probe confirms the stricken shared flight from Dallas/Fort Worth
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Thursday, March 25, 2010 3:06 PM
<!-- end creation date -->Updated: Thursday, March 25, 2010 11:58 PM
By Misti Crane and Tyler James
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Norovirus is to blame for an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness that sickened at least 18 student-athletes and one coach and postponed the NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.
Noroviruses are a group of related bugs that are spread easily and can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain.
The Ohio Department of Health lab confirmed tonight that samples from four people revealed the same culprit.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been contacted amid concerns that the illnesses might be connected to a flight that arrived in Columbus on Monday from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, said Jen House, spokeswoman for the state Health Department.
The only cases identified so far are 19 in Columbus, she said, but there are concerns that other people, possibly in other states, could be sick.
Public-health workers investigating the situation hadn't nailed down late today where or how the athletes picked up the bug, they said.
But they know the sickened people shared a flight. The flight - among other common threads, including potential food sources here or at the airport - is part of the public-health probe, said Dr. Mysheika LeMaile-Williams, the city's medical director.
The flight isn't the only target of the investigation, but it has been identified as something that the sickened individuals have in common, she said.
"It's also possible they were exposed to something here in Columbus and we're concerned about that," LeMaile-Williams said.
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Public-health probe confirms the stricken shared flight from Dallas/Fort Worth
<!-- begin creation date -->
Thursday, March 25, 2010 3:06 PM
<!-- end creation date -->Updated: Thursday, March 25, 2010 11:58 PM
By Misti Crane and Tyler James
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Norovirus is to blame for an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness that sickened at least 18 student-athletes and one coach and postponed the NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.
Noroviruses are a group of related bugs that are spread easily and can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain.
The Ohio Department of Health lab confirmed tonight that samples from four people revealed the same culprit.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been contacted amid concerns that the illnesses might be connected to a flight that arrived in Columbus on Monday from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, said Jen House, spokeswoman for the state Health Department.
The only cases identified so far are 19 in Columbus, she said, but there are concerns that other people, possibly in other states, could be sick.
Public-health workers investigating the situation hadn't nailed down late today where or how the athletes picked up the bug, they said.
But they know the sickened people shared a flight. The flight - among other common threads, including potential food sources here or at the airport - is part of the public-health probe, said Dr. Mysheika LeMaile-Williams, the city's medical director.
The flight isn't the only target of the investigation, but it has been identified as something that the sickened individuals have in common, she said.
"It's also possible they were exposed to something here in Columbus and we're concerned about that," LeMaile-Williams said.
/.../
More at:
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