Mystery illness strikes Harvard

More than 200 Harvard undergraduates, mostly freshmen, reported getting sick Tuesday night after contracting a mysterious illness. Approximately 50 students spent the night at the university's infirmary, where they received treatment for dehydration associated with the illness. The symptoms -- vomiting, diarrhea and fever -- were originally attributed to a suspected food poisoning in the Freshman Union, but further investigation has raised questions about the source of the illness. "The most recent thing that I've heard is that they think that it is some sort of bacteria," said Harvard freshman Wayne Marshall, who suffered from the illness yesterday. More students reported symptoms associated with the illness yesterday after the original rush to the infirmary the night before. "I didn't get sick until this morning but the outbreak was really last night," Harvard freshman Kelsey McNiss said yesterday. "A lot of people were at [University Health Services] on IV -- it was a really bad scene." Many students doubt that the statistics for the number of students affected by the outbreak are accurate. "Out of the nine people on my floor, eight of them are sick, but only three of us have gone to UHS," Marshall said. "I think the figure is at least twice as high because a good percentage of the people had less severe cases." Some students speculated that the water in the Union could have been contaminated because of construction taking place outside. "They are definitely considering the water contamination theory as a possibility," Marshall said. "Today the Union switched to paper and plastic plates and utensils. "None of the food was prepared there because they didn't want to prepare anything with the water at the Union," he added. Students are waiting for further information regarding the source of the mysterious illness. "Right now it just sounds like they are trying to trace it back to the source," McNiss said. "There have been a lot of health officials coming around." UHS officials refused to comment about the illness last night. The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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