We do a lot of sanitizing. At The Schoolhouse, normal disinfecting procedures also are being followed and so far none of the 86 children has been affected. J.D. Mauldin, who runs the center with his wife, said thorough disinfecting is done routinely. Although the illness mainly strikes children, several adults have been hospitalized while others have been treated. Adults are usually infected by children, Robillard said.
Symptoms are fever, diarrhea and cramping, sometimes severely.
The worst mistake adults can make, Robillard said, is to think that just because the symptoms have disappeared, the disease has, too. Adults with symptoms should take themselves to the doctor as readily as they would their children with the same symptoms, she advised. You can lose the symptoms but remain infectious. Robillard said the outbreak was large enough that an epidemiologist for the regional office in Arlington was called in to review the large number of cases. Under normal circumstances, one to three cases are reported every other week to the health unit, so the recent number reported is considered large.