Due to the sudden and widespread onset of a malady resembling the 24-hour flu, students crowded into the infirmary this past weekend and sorority rush activities were cut short.
Infirmary Head Nurse Penny Sparacino reported an unusually large number of weekend admissions and said that the infirmary came to resemble a "madhouse." Students were treated mainly for nausea and diarrhea, she said.
The cause of the sudden increase in illnesses is still unknown, Sparacino said, and added that she is unsure if all the students' symptoms can be attributed to the same cause.
Most students' cases have been characterized by a sudden onset of vomiting, nausea and diarrhea. The symptoms usually last for 24 hours. "It hits with a vengeance and then it goes," Sparacino said. The large number of students experiencing symptoms is likely due to the degree of interaction among students, she said. "It's not atypical for it to spread with students living in close contact."
The illness has affected so many students that sorority rush was cut short Sunday, said Trinity senior Katie Higgins, president of the Panhellenic Council, who is also suffering from the malady. She said that 25 to 30 rushees were allowed to miss the first session of rush due to illness, and added that rush functions yesterday were shortened by 1 1/2 hours. Parties were cut from 35 minutes to 25 minutes in length, so a day that was supposed to end at 8 p.m. was over at 6:30.
The number of infirmary admissions began increasing rapidly on Friday, but slacked off considerably by Sunday afternoon. Lab tests and blood work are currently being done to analyze the cause of these symptoms, and Dr. William Christmas, director of student health, said that it will be a couple of days before results are available.
Sparacino said that it is safe to rule out food poisoning as a cause of the illness because of the specific precautions taken in University eateries. "We haven't had any indication that it was food poisoning," Sparacino said.
Christmas said that ill students had eaten at a variety of locations on and off campus, so the food at no single restaurant could have caused the symptoms.
Trinity sophomore Kevin Kirchner, who suffered from the illness, said he felt like his body "had just completely broken down." When he went to Pickens Saturday morning, Pickens personnel could not refer him to the student infirmary because the it had already reached capacity at approximately 27 students, Kirchner said. He was diagnosed with a stomach virus and was told to go home and rest.
Sparacino said that rest is the best advice to follow.
"Whenever you have an episode of nausea... what you should do is not eat or drink anything for five hours." Later on, after the digestive tract has rested, students should begin drinking clear liquids and eating light items such as crackers, she said.
Sparacino added that she is reluctant to use medication to treat the illness, but instead feels that it is "better to just let the body recover naturally."
Despite the unusually high number of students that the infirmary treated, Sparacino said that the symptoms she has witnessed are fairly common every year, and students should just let them run their course.
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