Hundreds Ill; Food Suspected

Hundreds of undergraduates suddenly began vomiting last night. Officials at University Health Services (UHS) struggled into the morning to treat the ill, while speculating that the cause was food poisoning.

UHS was besieged by close to 200 students, according to director Dr. David S. Rosenthal '59. Rosenthal said the undergraduates were suffering from "acute initial nausea and vomiting."

"This is a first for me," Rosenthal said. "A great number of students have been admitted for observation." Asked if any students were in serious danger, the doctor said: "Fortunately, not."

Rosenthal found out about the epidemic when he made a routine call to the clinic at 7 p.m. By midnight, five physicians, including the director himself, were staffing the emergency desk, and nurses were working double shifts. At 2:45 a.m., Harvard police were sent to Mt. Auburn Hospital for additional supplies of medication.

Students will likely remain ill for only 24 hours, Rosenthal said.

At midnight, harried staff members were asking students to stay home and drink water even as new arrivals flooded the already-crowded waiting rooms.

Scores of other students chose not to go to UHS or were turned away.

Most of the victims were first-years, but some members of the upper classes were also among the ill. The sick included those who ate at the Freshman Union and a handful of students who ate at the house dining halls.

The epidemic's cause could not be immediately determined. Friends and roommates of ailing students offered theories ranging from an errant Chemistry 10 bacillus to the fusilli in the Union's salad bar.

In dozens of interviews with sick students last night, no common denominator emerged as a possible source of the illness.

In fact, the only thing stricken students have in common is their nausea. Asked how he felt, one first-year responded: "Like shit."

In the lobby of the UHS night entrance under Holyoke Center, several students were slumped on couches with pink plastic basins placed next to them to catch their vomit.

Others were collapsed on the floor, barely appearing to breathe. As a nurse moved from one body to the next, a student stumbled in from the waiting room and crumpled to the carpet, clutching his own bowl next to him.

A security guard stepped over the prostrate figures to empty basins from sick students into the storm drain in the driveway.

"Looks like Logan airport in here," the guard said.

A number of administrators--including Associate Dean of Freshmen W.C. Burriss Young '55 and proctor Keith W. Light--showed up at UHS to comfort the afflicted, according to Rosenthal.

Director of Dining Services Michael P. Berry, reached at his home last night, said he believed the onslaught of illnesses was the result of food poisoning.

"Rosenthal believes the incidents are coming out of the Freshman Union," he said.

Berry said that two dishes the Union served at lunch, the veggie pocket and fusilli, may be causing the illness.

Berry said this is the first incident of food poisoning in his four years as director of dining services.

"We serve 1,800,000 meals per year, and 20 million meals for all of Harvard in the four years I've been here," he said. "This is the first time this has happened."

Rosenthal said Environmental Health and Safety administrators had been notified. They were to begin an investigation with UHS and dining services officials at 5:30 this morning, Berry said.

The dining staff follows a specified protocol when a large number of students become ill, according to Berry. A response team composed of the executive chef, unit manager and assistant manager of operations met to discuss the poisoning this morning, he said.

A team of sanitation consultants will take samples and send them to a lab for testing, Berry said. The Union kitchen will also be completely sanitized, he added.

Berry said that such an incident is inevitable considering the amount of food served in the Union.

"I've always told the staff at some point we will have a foodborne illness," he said, "and I take full responsibility."

Although Berry and UHS administrators apparently agree the illness is related to food poisoning, students at UHS ate varying meals at different dining halls. Some consumed neither the veggie pocket nor the fusilli, the two dishes Berry mentioned.

Berry said, however, that the source of the illness can be tracked by examining the time of onset.

"Certain illnesses won't come on for 18 hours," he said. "Onset time is food-specific."

Violent Vomiting

Dana Goldblatt '98 went to UHS three hours after her 6 p.m. dinner.

Once there, she was told that she could wait to see a doctor, but the sight of the crowded UHS waiting room prompted her to return to her Thayer Hall room instead.

"I found out that they're putting people on I.V.s so they don't pass out," she said.

Some students did not immediately link their malady to the food they ate.

"I thought it was the flu at first," said Jennifer Y. Lin '98. "My head really hurts."

"I lay in bed for a while," Lin added. "Everyone was throwing up, really violently."

Lin said she chose to remain in bed rather than go to UHS because she had heard the clinic was overburdened.

"Everyone I know is sick," said Conley Rollins '98, who became ill shortly after dinner. Rollins, who reported nausea and stomach aches, entered UHS at around midnight.

Many believed their symptoms were due to yesterday's Chem 10 lab, which involved some groups working with live E. Coli bacteria. But Baird Professor of Science Dudley R. Herschbach said there was little chance that the bacteria caused the epidemic.

"Unless people actually eat stuff, there's no way they should get sick from them," Herschbach said.

Rollins argued that even the nausea has its positive side.

"It's good timing, you know," she said. "The Ec 10 exam is tomorrow."

Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley Nathans said, however, that the mystery illness wouldn't affect classes today. "I would not imagine the University schedule will be disrupted," she said.

Reached at home--herself sick with the flu last night--Nathans said ill students with exams today should discuss the problems with their instructors.

Sandip Madhavareddy '98 said he was feeling ill last night, but did not plan to go to UHS. His roommate had gone before 8 p.m. and had not returned three hours later.

Madhavareddy's roommate is yet another anomaly in this mysterious illness. He ate only breakfast yesterday.

"He left [Chem 10 lab] early, felt sick, and started throwing up all over the place," Madhavareddy said. "And he basically didn't have anything [to eat] today."

Madhavareddy said the Chem lab might have been responsible for his roommate's attack. But he also noted that he knew many others who were not in the class and that the number of sick was growing into the night.

"The news just keeps coming in," he said

In dozens of interviews with sick students last night, no common denominator emerged as a possible source of the illness.

In fact, the only thing stricken students have in common is their nausea. Asked how he felt, one first-year responded: "Like shit."

In the lobby of the UHS night entrance under Holyoke Center, several students were slumped on couches with pink plastic basins placed next to them to catch their vomit.

Others were collapsed on the floor, barely appearing to breathe. As a nurse moved from one body to the next, a student stumbled in from the waiting room and crumpled to the carpet, clutching his own bowl next to him.

A security guard stepped over the prostrate figures to empty basins from sick students into the storm drain in the driveway.

"Looks like Logan airport in here," the guard said.

A number of administrators--including Associate Dean of Freshmen W.C. Burriss Young '55 and proctor Keith W. Light--showed up at UHS to comfort the afflicted, according to Rosenthal.

Director of Dining Services Michael P. Berry, reached at his home last night, said he believed the onslaught of illnesses was the result of food poisoning.

"Rosenthal believes the incidents are coming out of the Freshman Union," he said.

Berry said that two dishes the Union served at lunch, the veggie pocket and fusilli, may be causing the illness.

Berry said this is the first incident of food poisoning in his four years as director of dining services.

"We serve 1,800,000 meals per year, and 20 million meals for all of Harvard in the four years I've been here," he said. "This is the first time this has happened."

Rosenthal said Environmental Health and Safety administrators had been notified. They were to begin an investigation with UHS and dining services officials at 5:30 this morning, Berry said.

The dining staff follows a specified protocol when a large number of students become ill, according to Berry. A response team composed of the executive chef, unit manager and assistant manager of operations met to discuss the poisoning this morning, he said.

A team of sanitation consultants will take samples and send them to a lab for testing, Berry said. The Union kitchen will also be completely sanitized, he added.

Berry said that such an incident is inevitable considering the amount of food served in the Union.

"I've always told the staff at some point we will have a foodborne illness," he said, "and I take full responsibility."

Although Berry and UHS administrators apparently agree the illness is related to food poisoning, students at UHS ate varying meals at different dining halls. Some consumed neither the veggie pocket nor the fusilli, the two dishes Berry mentioned.

Berry said, however, that the source of the illness can be tracked by examining the time of onset.

"Certain illnesses won't come on for 18 hours," he said. "Onset time is food-specific."

Violent Vomiting

Dana Goldblatt '98 went to UHS three hours after her 6 p.m. dinner.

Once there, she was told that she could wait to see a doctor, but the sight of the crowded UHS waiting room prompted her to return to her Thayer Hall room instead.

"I found out that they're putting people on I.V.s so they don't pass out," she said.

Some students did not immediately link their malady to the food they ate.

"I thought it was the flu at first," said Jennifer Y. Lin '98. "My head really hurts."

"I lay in bed for a while," Lin added. "Everyone was throwing up, really violently."

Lin said she chose to remain in bed rather than go to UHS because she had heard the clinic was overburdened.

"Everyone I know is sick," said Conley Rollins '98, who became ill shortly after dinner. Rollins, who reported nausea and stomach aches, entered UHS at around midnight.

Many believed their symptoms were due to yesterday's Chem 10 lab, which involved some groups working with live E. Coli bacteria. But Baird Professor of Science Dudley R. Herschbach said there was little chance that the bacteria caused the epidemic.

"Unless people actually eat stuff, there's no way they should get sick from them," Herschbach said.

Rollins argued that even the nausea has its positive side.

"It's good timing, you know," she said. "The Ec 10 exam is tomorrow."

Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley Nathans said, however, that the mystery illness wouldn't affect classes today. "I would not imagine the University schedule will be disrupted," she said.

Reached at home--herself sick with the flu last night--Nathans said ill students with exams today should discuss the problems with their instructors.

Sandip Madhavareddy '98 said he was feeling ill last night, but did not plan to go to UHS. His roommate had gone before 8 p.m. and had not returned three hours later.

Madhavareddy's roommate is yet another anomaly in this mysterious illness. He ate only breakfast yesterday.

"He left [Chem 10 lab] early, felt sick, and started throwing up all over the place," Madhavareddy said. "And he basically didn't have anything [to eat] today."

Madhavareddy said the Chem lab might have been responsible for his roommate's attack. But he also noted that he knew many others who were not in the class and that the number of sick was growing into the night.

"The news just keeps coming in," he said