Today I found an article on Boston.com entitled "Possible Norovirus closes Harvard Faculty Club." The article was written by Travis Anderson and was published on April 2, 2010. The article talks about how a spokeswoman for the schools hospitality and dining services program, Crista Martin, sent out an email saying that the club in Cambridge which had been closed a week ago due to a possible norovirus outbreak would remain closed until a cleaning crew sanitized the entire building.
Noroviruses are a group of viruses that cause gastroenteritis in people. Gastroenteritis is an inflammation of the lining of the stomach and intestines. Because of this, the article goes on to discuss how many sick patrons had reported syptoms of nausea and diarrhea. The article also talks a lot about the symptoms of a norovirus and says common norovirus symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and some stomach cramping. Infections can spread by eating food or drinking liquids contaminated with the virus, touching contaminated surfaces or objects before putting fingers in one’s mouth, and having direct contact with an infected person. Martin adds that closing the club was a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of everyone. Louise Rice, director of public health nursing for the city of Cambridge said "more than 10 people became ill after eating at the Faculty Club but, officials have not yet determined whether they were infected with a norovirus." I thought this quote was important because it gives the reader of the article a better insight into what the people going through this are actually experiencing.
The reason the article quickly grabbed my attention was because it talked about a lot of similar things we have studied in class and it interested me to learn more about how what we are learning in class connects to the real world today. It talked about viruses and illnesses which we have definitely covered a lot in class. It also talked about the symptoms of this specific virus which was cool because we talk a lot in class about the symptoms of each ailment we study. This article also connected to a project I did in my spanish class a few weeks ago about the earthquake in Haiti and about all of the health issues that came along with it. Our assignment was to make a PSA in Spanish about all the horrible things happening to the people in Haiti and what we can do to help. A lot of the ways we can help included donating money to organizations which study viruses and diseases such as the CDC, or Center for Disease Control. I thought this was a cool connection because it shows how many different areas of study the CDC is involved in and all of the ways is helps our world as a community.
I really enjoyed this article in general because there isn't really any controversy. The article simply gives insights to what is happening in our surrounding community, and the people involved fill the reporters in on only the information that they know. Even the people affected still don't know all of the details and if it is even definitely a norovirus which I think is pretty cool. Below is the link to a video from Youtube which gives a great explanation as to what a norovirus is, the symptoms is causes, and methods of transmission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n_3xQ-i_4A
Here's the link to the article in the Boston Globe if you want to check it out:
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/04/02/possible_norovirus_closes_harvard_faculty_club/
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ReplyDeleteWell this post brings attention to me because my grandfather works at Harvard and he became ill a couple of weeks ago, and it seemed to be a stomach bug that was being passed around my house fortunatly it did not get to me, but im wondering if this had anything to do with it? Im also wondering what might have caused this because usually when people think of Harvard thiey think of this great learning facility and to find out something like this in my eyes brings the name down , there probably could have been more done to prevent this.
ReplyDeleteI also made a connection to this because one of my friends contracted a norovirus at a track meet in the winter at the Reggie Lewis Center. At this facility there are hundreds of kids that participate in track along with hundreds of people there watching. This is dangerous because there is a great chance that the virus will spread amongst a large group of people. In contracting norovirus, my friend had symptoms for nearly a week. Norovirus probably drains a lot of energy out of you and takes away any appetite you may have. I think it's great that Crista Martin made sure the club in Cambridge stayed closed until a cleaning crew sanitized the whole building.
ReplyDeletethis article just shows how vonerable everbody is towards the norovirus. Since it is not jus one virus but lots of them, it is hard to give and even make proper vaccine. Thus makin it harder to stop from spreading. this is a grear article made by Crista Martin and really opens our eyes toward this virus.
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