Norovirus Outbreak at Chapman University Blamed on Cafeteria

Chapman University’s cafeteria was likely the source of a norovirus outbreak at the university, the Orange County Health Care Agency announced today.

The cafeteria was closed and disinfected over the weekend. It re-opened for breakfast on Monday and has been open since on its regular schedule, the university said in a statement.

The agency received about 30 reports of ailing students on Friday, according to Deanne Thompson, its public information officer.

Chapman officials said today about 50 students complained of symptoms of the gastrointestinal virus, according to Mary Platt, the university’s director of communications and media relations.

Norovirus can be foodborne or passed on by human touch.

It was “very difficult” to assess how the outbreak occurred because in a college setting, which includes dormitories, there would be “multiple ways” for the virus to get passed on, Thompson said.

“As far as we can tell, all those ill have recovered or are recovering,” Thompson said.

The virus “can be passed in multiple settings, not just in a food borne event,” Thompson said.

“So it would not be surprising if some of the cases at Chapman were unrelated to the cafeteria. Nevertheless, given that so many persons reported developing noro-like illness over such a short period of time after eating at the cafeteria, the cafeteria clearly appears to have been a source of norovirus.”

Laboratory officials determined norovirus in stool specimens from ailing students, Thompson said. The HCA credited Chapman for being “very aggressive and proactive in addressing the concern,” she added.

Norovirus is “very common,” Thompson said.

Chapman’s dining staff workers have been trained by the Health Care Agency “on how to work safely and protect students from the virus in the disinfected facility, and the dining commons,” the university said in a statement.

Chapman has hand sanitizers available throughout the campus, according to the statement.

City News Service; Photo: Wikimedia Commons