Ohio - Illness at NCAA meet: Swimmers have norovirus

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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
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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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More at:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten.../NCAA-swimming-sick-flight-Texas.html?sid=101

 

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Re: Ohio - Illness at NCAA meet: Swimmers have norovirus

VOMITING, DIARRHEA
2 women feeling ill fear it's norovirus
Mother, daughter flew from Dallas, just like swimmers
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Saturday, March 27, 2010 2:51 AM
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THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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Columbus health officials plan to interview two Ohio women who say they might have been infected with the same virus that sickened at least 18 student-athletes and a coach in town for the NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Susan Niceswanger, a Zanesville office manager, and her mother, Martha Gibbon of Shawnee in Perry County, flew on the same airline Monday as the athletes from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

The swimmers and the coach, from three schools, all have norovirus, a gastrointestinal illness that is spread easily and can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting and stomach pain.

The athletes boarded an American Airlines flight that left Dallas on Monday five hours before Niceswanger and Gibbons took off.

The swimming and diving competitions began yesterday at Ohio State University. The NCAA postponed the start for one day because of the illnesses.

Niceswanger, 56, said she and her 75-year-old mother experienced similar symptoms after getting home Monday.

"It was terrible. I was in bed until this morning," she said yesterday. "My mother, she's still in bed."

Mysheika LeMaile-Williams, Columbus Public Health's medical director, said investigators will interview the women by phone and ask Zanesville and Shawnee area health officials to collect stool samples that a state lab can test for norovirus.

Although the source of the virus has not yet been pinned down, LeMaile-Williams said it appears likely the athletes and coach picked up the bug before they arrived in Columbus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been contacted amid concerns that the illness might be connected to the flight.

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More at:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...n-feeling-ill-fear-its-norovirus.html?sid=101