The College's Health Services concluded last week that the Norwalk Virus probably caused the outbreak of vomiting, nausea and diarrhea that afflicted more than 100 students at the end of Fall term.
Health Services based its conclusion on the similarity between Dartmouth students' symptoms and those of an outbreak at Harvard University, where 225 students were afflicted at the end of last month, Health Services Director Dr. Jack Turco said.
Harvard Health Services officials identified the cause of the epidemic at their school as the Norwalk Virus two weeks ago, after the school received the results of DNA tests performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
"It's almost a foregone conclusion that this was a food-borne virus," Dr. David Rosenthal, director of Harvard's health services, told the Harvard Crimson on Jan. 4.
Turco said the College's Health Services did not collect enough stool samples or blood tests to receive any conclusive results from samples sent to the CDC.
"We just don't have enough numbers that we're going to do that," Turco said. "I think this is a virus that's all over the northeast."
Turco said the outbreak may have resulted from food contamination. For example, someone preparing food or someone getting food at a salad bar might have spread the virus through the food.
But the virus may have passed from student to simply through the air, he said.
According to an article in the Harvard Crimson, Harvard health officials believe the virus at Harvard was most likely spread through the salad bar in the Freshman Union.
The article stated that Harvard mailed letters to the parents of all freshmen describing the virus and is conducting a "comprehensive investigation into the health standards of Harvard's food."
Harvard's dining services also plans to improve the cleanliness of their kitchens, inspect their vendors' plants, hire a consulting firm to do checkups and improve their bacteria tests.
"Even though we don't know [the source of the virus], we're going to take these precautions," Michael Berry, Harvard's Director of Dining Services told the Crimson.
"I said on the first day that I take responsibility, and I still do. Until someone proves otherwise, I'm treating this as if it was [food poisoning]," he added.
Berry also told the Crimson that Dartmouth Dining Services officials refused to release a list of its food vendors to Harvard for comparison.
Turco said Dartmouth is not planning to conduct an investigation into its food service operation or mail letters to students explaining the outbreak.
