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Several students at Hanszen College last Thursday evening suffered from a sudden onset of acute nausea, vomiting and diarrhea accompanied in some cases by fever, chills, black-outs or near black-outs, abdominal pain and body aches.

Lisa Smith, a Hanszen freshman, was among the students affected. "I thought it might be food poisoning because it was so sudden. About three hours after I first got sick, I found out that several others were sick, too. Since we had all eaten the same thing at the same time and had all gotten sick at about the same time it seemed suspicious," Smith said.

Smith and the other students were taken to Park Plaza Hospital, where they were given anti-vomiting medication and intravenous drips to relieve their dehydration.

The meal in question is the roast beef served at the colleges for dinner on April 2, according to Director of Food and Housing Marion Hicks.

"We're doing our best to find out what caused this, but we do not know yet for sure. Our work with the City of Houston Department of Health epidemiologists indicates that the incident is probably not an actual food-borne illness, but a virus causing the illness could have been transmitted by food," Hicks said.

Hicks does not dismiss the possibility that the illnesses may be food-related. "We're taking every step in sanitation we can. None of the kitchen employees [at Hanszen] were sick at the time of the initial outbreak."

"We are required by law to have a supervisor certified in sanitation to manage food service in each kitchen," Hicks said. "We sent several kitchen workers to the training course in January so as to prevent situations like this and to make people aware [of sanitation needs]. Three of the Hanszen kitchen employees who were working Wednesday night have this certification,"

Hicks hopes that the illness is virus-induced rather than food-related."But if this illness is coming from us, then we need to know," he said.

Dan Grossman, a Sid Richardson College senior, developed the same symptoms on Friday morning. Grossman did not consume any food from the Hanszen kitchen, nor was he exposed to any members of Hanszen that he can recall.

"I don't really fit the pattern, so that lends fuel to the thought that this might have been caused by a virus. Dr. [Mark] Jenkins told me that I could possibly have picked it up from a public restroom," Grossman said.

Others support the idea that the illnesses are caused by a virus, including Dr. Amanda Schnee of Health Services. "While the symptoms of food poisoning and viral gastroenteritis are similar -- diarrhea and vomiting -- we saw students before the incident at Hanszen and we're still seeing cases of it today [Monday]," she said. "That's more typical of a virus than of food poisoning."

"It can be difficult for people who are so sick to remember to use proper hygiene. Viral particles can be found around toilets [that have not been cleaned properly after use]," Schnee said. "Nothing about this outbreak leads me to believe that it was caused by food poisoning."

Kathy Barton, chief of public affairs for the City of Houston Department of Health, said that the department's epidemiologists have ruled out bacterial contamination as a cause. "This could be caused by a virus or a toxin, but since the contagion has been ongoing, we're leaning towards a viral cause," she said.

According to Barton, the Department of Health's Consumer Services Division has been working to educate Rice students and staff in proper hygiene and food preparation techniques.

"The department is seeking to stop the transmission of the illness rather than pinpoint the exact cause -- although that would be good information to know," Barton said.

Hanszen Master Lisa Bryan, who accompanied several of the students to the hospital, stressed that the close quarters students keep as a part of college life and in communal bathroom/dormitory situations may be related to the outbreak.

"It's almost like a giant nursery school in that someone is always sick," Bryan said.

"It's also possible that food may have been handled by a worker who was carrying the virus. I was amazed how quickly people sprang into action, though. [Manager of Residential Colleges] Bob Truscott saw to it that the toilets were cleaned with chlorine. I was very pleased there was genuine concern, and it wasn't like people were trying to cover up a mistake," she said.

According to Jones College sophomore and Rice Emergency Medical Technician Noah Reiter, 19 students had reported the symptoms as of Monday afternoon. While the majority of the cases come from Hanszen, the gastroenteritis has also been reported at Sid Richardson College and, to an even smaller extent, Wiess and Jones Colleges. Three Hanszen College kitchen workers have become ill since the initial outbreak as well.

"But none of the EMTs who treated the students have gotten sick yet," Reiter said. "Also, there were people at Hanszen who ate the same meal as the ones who got sick and were just fine. It's a strange set of circumstances."

Dehydration is the primary concern with gastroenteritis, according to both Schnee and Reiter. The incubation period for the virus is 12-48 hours after exposure, and symptoms, especially the vomiting, can endure from several hours to one to two days. The illness usually self-resolves within 24 hours, however.

The usual method of viral transmission is fecal-oral contamination, says Schnee. To avoid infection, students should use proper hygienic measures such as washing their hands properly after use of bathroom facilities by using soap and water and drying hands with a clean paper towel. The paper towel should be used as a barrier to turn off the faucet to prevent contamination with viruses that may be on the surface.

This item appeared in the News section of the April 11, 1997 issue.