Bug Levels 100 Students at Point Loma Nazarene

One hundred or so students at Point Loma Nazarene University have recently come down with the norovirus &mdash otherwise known as the "cruise ship disease." Several students reported cases of gastrointestinal upset over the first weekend of December.

School officials were notified when reports of the first illnesses broke and the number of ill students quickly increased. Symptoms of the virus included severe vomiting, chronic diarrhea and abdominal pain. School officials denied that the source of the norovirus was related in any way to the Point Loma Nazarene cafeteria services or any kind of food-borne illness.

San Diego’s Department of Environmental Health was called out to the Sunset Cliffs campus and conducted a health and safety inspection of the college's dining services that weekend. According to a report in the student newspaper, The Point Weekly, "the Cafeteria and other dining areas on campus are not the source of the outbreak." Conjecture was that the virus &mdash which is very hearty - was "likely spread from person to person or by touching infected surfaces," according to a local news report.

After intensive cleaning in both the cafeteria and common areas, the norovirus epidemic appears to be subsiding at the school.