A gastrointestinal virus has spread quickly across campus over the past two months, sending about 20 students per week to Dick’s House at its peak, though many more have likely been infected. The outbreak follows a Jan. 7 alert by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services regarding increased norovirus activity in the state.
Dick’s House has also released a campus alert about viral gastroenteritis, commonly referred to as the stomach flu.
The decision to release an alert was based on the jump in student admittance to Dick’s House as well as the New Hampshire alert, Dick’s House co-director Jack Turco said. In the post, Dick’s House states the College’s awareness of the illness and lists its symptoms, preventative and self-care measures and information about when to seek professional medical attention.
The student clinic sought to increase awareness of the virus and “make people even more conscientious,” Turco said.
Vomiting, diarrhea and cramping abdominal pain are the most common symptoms of gastrointestinal virus, which usually lasts one to two days, according to the Dick’s House alert, and the most effective prevention is good hand washing. Noroviruses are highly communicable and spread via person-to-person contact and through contaminated surfaces.
Students with the virus were most often admitted to Dick’s House for dehydration, its most severe consequence, Turco said, adding that many other students likely experienced a mild case of the virus that did not require attention.
Several members of Kappa Delta sorority and Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity caught a gastrointestinal virus, most likely at a party earlier this term, Karen Wen ’16 said.
Wen, a member of Kappa Delta sorority, said she believes she caught the virus from the party but did not go to Dick’s House for medical assistance.
“I figured out I had norovirus from my sorority’s blitz list,” Wen said.
Ellen Daily ’14, who also attended the KD and Tri-Kap event, said she believes she did not catch the virus because she did not drink at the party.
The College often sees a spike in viral gastroenteritis in the spring, Turco said.
“Sometimes we see an uptick when people come on campus after spring break because students have been traveling all over the world,” he said.
In the past, the virus has infected Dartmouth in “peaks and valleys,” Turco said. Outbreaks are common in colleges campuses and other locations where people interact with each other frequently, Turco said.
Plymouth State University, 45 miles from Dartmouth’s campus, saw an outbreak in the winter, health services nurse manager Edna Merrill said, but the incidence rate slowed in the spring.
Colby-Sawyer College and Vermont Technical College, both also within 50 miles of Dartmouth, have not seen outbreaks of gastrointestinal viruses, according to health professionals at the colleges.
