By Diana Penner
diana.penner@indystar.com
October 10, 2003
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Marion County Health Department officials expect test results, which could be available early next week, to tell them precisely what made 27 Butler University sorority sisters sick.
Friday, those officials learned that the nausea, vomiting and diarrhea also had stricken other students, not just those living at the Kappa Alpha Theta house.
Dr. Virginia Caine, director of the Health Department, said 45 or 50 Butler students could turn out to have contracted the illness.
Health officials do not believe the students have meningitis, a viral or bacterial infection that causes swelling around the spinal cord and typically is marked by a stiff neck. No students have those kinds of symptoms, Caine said.
Sorority members first got sick Sept. 29, Caine and Butler officials said, and the illness spread into last week, when the numbers got high enough to attract attention.
Sorority members said they had been told by their national headquarters not to comment.
Caine said the culprits being investigated include bacteria, such as E. coli and shigella, and viral infections that include noroviruses, previously called Norwalk-like viruses. These are often referred to as "cruise ship" sickness because they periodically break out and spread quickly on cruise ships.
Samples of food served at Wednesday's lunch, as well as stool samples, will be checked to determine the organism responsible for the sickness. Bacterial cultures take three to four days to yield results, and viral cultures take two to 10 days, Caine said.
Outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses with the numbers of victims seen at Butler occur once or twice a year in Marion County, and many of the organisms that cause them exist continually in the population. Caine said the original infection could have come from someone who became infected elsewhere. People can become infected, never get sick or show symptoms and still transmit an infection to others, who do become ill, she said.
When people live together and share eating, sleeping and lavatory areas -- such as in a home, a day-care center or a sorority -- such infections can spread quickly, Caine said. The Health Department has suggested that some areas be thoroughly cleaned with bleach. It also provided students with hand-washing tips to help them keep the illness from continuing to spread. .
Maureen Manier, a Butler spokeswoman, said a handful of women had been sent to emergency rooms for evaluation since Sept. 29; all were treated for dehydration and released. No one was admitted to a hospital, she said.
Health and school officials had initially urged "voluntary isolation" Friday -- not as strong as a quarantine -- but that was lifted later in the day after about 20 of the 60 sorority residents went home to their families -- either to recover or avoid getting sick in the first place.
The university's academic affairs office had been contacted to make arrangements for students who missed classes.
Those who stayed at the sorority house appeared to do so with good humor: They posted a handmade sign outside declaring: "Livin' inside and lovin' it."
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