By Allen Conrad
Eleven more students at the Rider University had to be treated overnight on Thursday at the Trenton-area hospitals, with which the total number of ill students went up to 55, officials at the New Jersey school said on Friday.
Brian Higgins, a university spokesperson, said yesterday morning that nearly all the students who were taken to three local hospitals from Wednesday through Thursday, were treated and released within hours. Just one of the students had to stay for the entire night.
School authorities believe that the illness can be attributed to norovirus. It's the same virus that was responsible for recent mass outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships. Six weeks back, a norovirus outbreak started six miles away at the Princeton University, and is still going on.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of the norovirus include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and stomach cramping. It may also result in fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, and tiredness.
The norovirus is not serious generally, with most patients recovering within a day or two. The virus spreads through touching surfaces contaminated with the virus, and then by ingesting foods or fluids.
