Jessai Flores

Stomach aches, unplanned trips to the restroom and a high fever — these are the symptoms Yale students have been enduring while battling norovirus.

Since early December, Connecticut has seen a historic surge in norovirus cases and hospital visits, leaving the Yale community battling with the virus’s relentless symptoms and ease of transmission. Though cases are currently low, it is unclear when exactly they may peak this year. Therefore, health officials are urging students to take preventive measures to curb the spread.

“In December, we had a limited outbreak among undergraduates in the period leading up to and including exams,” Madeline Wilson, the chief campus health officer, wrote to the News. “Since returning to campus, we have seen a few isolated cases at Yale Health but not at the level we were seeing prior to winter break. That said, it is the nature of norovirus that we don’t always know about cases because many do not seek care.”

According to Albert Ko, a professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health, norovirus is a gastrointestinal viral infection. Though it’s not a respiratory disease, consuming contaminated food or water, touching contaminated surfaces and being in close contact with an infected person increases the risk of infection. Symptoms range from nausea to diarrhea and vomiting, but some may experience illness without visible symptoms.

Norovirus infects cells in the gut that help absorb nutrients from food. The infection triggers inflammation in the gut and leads to stomach irritation, making it harder to absorb water. This causes the various symptoms seen in norovirus patients.

“It’s highly transmissible because it doesn’t take a lot of virus particles to infect people, probably less than 10 or 100 virus particles,” Ko said. “People can get exposed to it very easily.”

The disease usually causes symptoms for less than 48 hours, Ko said, but those infected can transmit the disease to others for longer. 

Due to its symptoms that cause constant water loss, those infected with the disease should drink lots of fluids and take time to rest and recover. 

Though it can cause complications like severe dehydration, norovirus is very rarely fatal. However, for young children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems, symptoms can be worse.

According to Craig Wilen, associate professor in immunobiology at the School of Medicine, there are currently no drugs, antivirals or vaccines for norovirus. Moreover, the understanding of norovirus is relatively limited compared to other viruses, and there has been relatively little funding for norovirus research.

Norovirus outbreaks usually occur almost every year, especially during the winter, like most other infectious diseases. However, the waning immunity that COVID-19 public health mandates has made this year’s case surge higher than normal. And though experts don’t know the exact number of cases, they can base their evidence on the increase in hospital visits.

“We have seen, based on evidence from hospitals and emergency rooms, that cases have been going up, starting in December and extending through January right now,” Ko told the News. “However, it is not a public health emergency. What we’re seeing now is something expected.”

Sebastian Reyes ’27 told the News that he was not aware of the norovirus before he contracted it in December. Because Reyes switched his medication as he began to exhibit symptoms, it took days before he realized the symptoms were not side effects.

“It definitely took at least two or three days to ramp up fully,” Reyes said. “It was a fever, which got up to either 103 °F or 104 °F. It remained there for like a day or two. There was a lot of GI discomfort, we’ll leave it at that, and then some body aches.”

Reyes could not pinpoint when he contracted the virus, recalling a doctor telling him it was very likely that he contracted the virus through contaminated food.

Though it isn’t a public health emergency and Yale isn’t experiencing an outbreak, Wilen believes that everyone should play their part in reducing the spread. Without vaccines, Yale Health’s main intervention in preventing an outbreak is education, as seen in the various messages placed in restrooms that detail steps to take if symptomatic and how to prevent transmission.

According to Wilson, everyone should wash their hands with soap and water, instead of using hand sanitizers, after using the restroom. Students should also clean high-touch surfaces like classroom desks with bleach-based cleaners. 

If students do get sick, they should stay at home for 48 hours after symptoms resolve and talk to their college dean if they need any accommodations. If symptoms worsen, they should come to Yale Health to receive treatment.

Around 1 in 15 people in the U.S. get norovirus annually.