Posted on 07/28/2005 6:02:45 PM PDT by socal_parrot
A team of wrestlers that ignored a request to stay confined after four of them came down with the norovirus likely helped rapidly spread the illness to other campers staying at Northern Arizona University last week, a county health official said. In all, 115 people have now been stricken, including eight NAU staffers and two county health workers. Coconino County Health Department Director Barbara Worgess said the library, Skydome, dining halls and three dorms are among the facilities that need to be sterilized after the wrestlers, the first infected campers, roamed the campus. Norovirus causes vomiting, nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea and dehydration that generally lasts for 24 to 48 hours, though the person who contracts it can remain contagious for up to two weeks. It's a common virus, Worgess said, and frequent hand-washing and the use of gloves around ill people help prevent its spread. The outbreak surfaced July 20 when four wrestlers landed in the Flagstaff Medical Center emergency room. Worgess said Camp of Champs wrestling director Steve Glassey was asked to confine his campers to their residence hall. However, she said the wrestlers visited other incoming wrestling teams and continued wrestling under Glassey's direction, despite directives to end physical activity that might expose others to illness. "As soon as they were no longer vomiting or had diarrhea, he had them training again," Worgess said. Glassey did not immediately return a message left for him by The Associated Press on Wednesday. Soon after the wrestlers became ill, members of a soccer camp, debate camp and Mormon youth camp also became infected. The Arizona Cardinals moved their training camp south 78 miles from Flagstaff to Prescott after the outbreak was reported. With just a month until classes start, health workers are now retracing the wrestlers' steps to sanitize the areas before college students return. Worgess said everything they touched needs to be cleaned with a 10 percent bleach mix, as the virus can live on surfaces for up to 28 days. Classes resume at NAU on Aug. 29, with students returning to campus the week before.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
WASH YOUR HANDS!
Hope the fumigate the dorms before the students return next month!
I'm not a huge fan of money-grubbing trial lawyers, but in this case I say, have at it, guys.
I have business to conduct at NAU next week...
Maybe I'll just do it by phone.
It must be the bad thing in Jack Daniels
That's not good at all. I've never heard of this virus before. It's definitely one that I don't want to meet either. :o)
Hopefully, they can contain it in Flagstaff. The Inter Tribal Indian Ceremonial starts here this next week and there will be thousands of tourists here for the event. Lots of Indians from the Flagstaff area attend. It could start an epidemic if it got into the crowds. They come from all over the world to see it.
WOW! That's one heck of a nasty virus if you need a 10% bleach solution to sanitize the surfaces. Sounds like it's at least as contagious as hepatitis.
My wife is on one of the decon teams. According to what she's heard, norovirus is just a fancy name for "that bug that's going around". If you've ever had the 24 hour flu, most likely you've had norovirus or one of it's cousins. For those of you who'll be on NAU's campus over the next few weeks, just wash your hands frequently and you'll be fine.
Doomed, doomed... we're all doomed.
Then again, we have rat droppings to worry about too!
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