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St. Cloud State University
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Norovirus threatens St. Joe's
By Shannon Flannigan
Published:
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Media Credit: Tim Gruber
First-year SCSU student Chris Bierle washes his hands on Wednesday evening in the men´s bathroom in Atwood Memorial. Experts say this is one way to prevent contracting the norovirus.
Wash your hands thoroughly, or risk being greeted by an unwelcome new neighbor.
In recent weeks, St John's University has seen an outbreak of the norovirus on their campus in St. Joseph. According to the Center for Disease Control, the virus causes stomach flu-like symptoms as well as other possible ailments such as headache or fatigue. The highly contagious norovirus can be found in stool or vomit.
St. John's senior Jake Hays was an unfortunate victim of the norovirus.
"It put me out for about two days, but I still feel like I am recovering," Hays said.
Michael Hemmesch, director of communications at St. John's, conducted a confidential campus Internet poll and found 139 St. John's and St. Ben's students were infected with the virus.
"It could be more, it could be less. Some just chose not to participate," Hemmesch said.
Both St. Johns and St. Ben's have increased sanitation measures, specifically in residence halls, where signs have been placed in all bathroom facilities reminding students to take extra precautions. Hemmesch said that beyond increased cleaning efforts, they are waiting to take any permanent precautions until after spring break commences in two weeks.
Some SJU and SBU students think the hype about the norovirus on campus is bigger than the virus itself.� St. Ben's student Liz Strawbridge thinks that most people are just sick with regular winter ailments, not necessarily the norovirus.
St. John's student Nolan Wall has not seen attendance go down in any of his classes as a result of the virus.
"It seems pretty isolated. The only thing I have noticed is that they installed hand sanitizer dispensers in the cafeteria and computer lab," Wall said.
So far SCSU has had no reports of the contagious virus. Troy Schafer, director of health service promotions, made light of the situation.
"As long as no one hangs out with any Johnnies or Bennies, we should be fine," Schafer said.
Schafer said if students were serious about protecting themselves, they should wash their hands, which is the best defense against the virus.
In addition, the Center for Disease Control reports that cold foods such as salads with dressing and bakery goods with cake icing have been known to carry the norovirus because the liquid topping can coat the food with the virus and allow it to grow.
Being a virus, there are no antibiotics or cures for the norovirus, which generally lasts one to two days. Jake Hays followed the best advice he knew how.
"I called my mom and followed her orders to get a lot of rest," Hays said.
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