Virus smacks 6th-graders

Seymour Middle School Sixth-Grade Center is closed today because of a gastrointestinal illness that affected more than 70 students and two teachers Thursday.

The rest of Seymour Community Schools, including the seventh- and eighth-grade SMS building, remained open today.

“We’ve not seen the problem at any of the other schools yet,” Superintendent Teran Armstrong said Thursday afternoon. “We’re keeping an eye on them as well and staying vigilant.”

Sixth-graders were being given a letter for their parents outlining the problem and an information sheet about norovirus, which is often the culprit in gastrointestinal illnesses, as they went home Thursday.

Armstrong said food poisoning and H1N1 flu are not suspected of causing the illness.

The fact sheet focuses on norovirus, which Armstrong said is the cause in about 50 percent of cases of gastroenteritis.

Norovirus is suspected as the cause of the viral infection that first surfaced with about six to 12 students being sent home ill Wednesday.

“With a population of 300 students, that didn’t seem too out of the ordinary, but we really got hit Thursday,” Armstrong said.

Sixty students were reported ill with the virus, which was causing vomiting and diarrhea, by around 1:30 p.m. The number had swelled by another 10 by around 2:40 p.m. At the end of the day, 76 students were sick.

Extra custodial staff were called in Thursday to help with cleaning the building with a 10 percent bleach solution. That work was expected to continue today.

Jackson County Health Department is working with the schools to determine and remove whatever is causing the illness.

Armstrong said custodial staff are going from room to room with disinfectant in an effort to eradicate the problem.

Students were being moved out of classrooms as the cleaning took place Thursday and then were returned to those rooms once cleaned.

Environmentalist Paul Ramsey of the local health department is expected to send a sample to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to determine what’s causing the illness, Public Health Coordinator Lin Montgomery said Thursday.

“Paul works with officials from the school, Schneck Medical Center and Indiana State Department of Health as part of an infectious control team to monitor any kind of communicable disease,” Montgomery said. “He’s working to identify the problem.”

Sixth-grade basketball tryouts for the boys and girls basketball teams that were scheduled for Thursday night and tonight were canceled and rescheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

About norovirus (viral gastroenteritis)

It is a highly contagious illness involving inflammation of the stomach and intestines.

It can produce severe gastrointestinal symptoms, but most recover quickly and without seeking medical attention.
It’s more common in the late fall through the winter, but can occur year round.

“Stomach flu” and “food poisoning” are common but misleading terms for viral gastroenteritis.

Viral gastroenteritis is not the same as influenza.

It does not originate directly from food.

It’s passed in stool and vomit and is easily spread by contaminated food or beverages, from person to person and by contact with a contaminated object.

It can remain infectious on surfaces for up to 72 hours and only a small amount of virus is needed to cause infection.

Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, cramps, headache, muscle aches and tiredness, and usually begin 24 to 48 hours after exposure and last 24 to 48 hours.

There is no medicine to cure the infection.

To prevent gastroenteritis

Practice good hygiene, including thoroughly washing hands with soap and water after using the restroom, changing diapers, assisting someone with diarrhea or vomiting, swimming and before, during and after food preparation.

Clean food preparation work surfaces, equipment and utensils with soap and water before, during and after food preparation.

Eat safe foods and drink safe water; wash all produce before eating raw or cooking and use treated water for washing, cooking and drinking.

Persons with diarrhea and or vomiting should not prepare food or provide health care for others; should limit direct contact with others; should not attend a child care facility or school; should not go swimming or use hot tubs for at least two weeks after diarrhea stops.

SOURCE: Seymour Community Schools Web site (link provided with this story)