By Kelli Stopczynski
South Bend Tribune
SOUTH BEND — It might be another day before it’s known what sickened more than 100 middle and high school students participating in summer sports camps at the University of Notre Dame.
Indiana’s Department of Health and the St. Joseph County Health Department are testing stool samples and food the campers ate to determine the cause of the illness.
The students became suddenly ill early Wednesday morning, and some were hospitalized with symptoms such as vomiting and body aches.
“I just kind of woke up (in the middle of the night) and started to have a sick feeling,” said 13-year-old Elaine Johnson, of Chicago, who attended the camp with her friend Maeve Sheehan.
“The coaches brought us out into the hallway, and every single girl had a small trash can. And everybody had a little pillow and blanket there, and we were all just kind of throwing up everywhere.”
About 30 students on campus for lacrosse, tennis, soccer, hockey and football camps were taken to the hospital. Several others were treated at the on-campus health center.
“We just wanted to be prepared as we could be,” explained university spokesman Dennis Brown. “We were able to do some transport but not knowing how many we’d end up with, we decided to err on the side of caution and have an ambulance stand by.”
The South Bend Fire Department ambulance stayed on campus most of the day.
“You suspect a norovirus,” said Dr. Thomas Felger, the St. Joseph County health officer. “That’s the same virus that hits cruise ships that most people have heard about. It’s the most common cause of ‘stomach flu.’ And the assumption is with this many young folks all getting sick at the same time, that’s probably what’s causing it.”
If it is a virus, the concern now is that the 1,100 teens on campus this week will head back to their homes across the country and possibly take the illness with them because they might be carrying the virus but not showing symptoms yet, Felger added.
More campers are scheduled to arrive on campus in the coming days. Parents will be informed about the situation, Brown said.
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