Hundreds of schools recently experienced outbreak of unknown virus

I've made a couple of posts related to this subject in some of the Coronavirus threads but I've been doing some more research and I feel this information warrants a new thread. Before I get into it, I want to make it clear I'm still skeptical that any of this is related to the Wuhan outbreak, and the purpose of this thread isn't really to prove they are related. However, even if the virus I discuss in this thread is unrelated, it still deserves some attention because it's capable of hospitalizing young healthy students, and there's a lot of other highly suspicious aspects of this virus.

First lets catch up on the events so far. In 2011 I created a thread detailing a viral outbreak which had Norovirus-like symptoms and was responsible for closing at least a dozen schools and infected over 100 students at the same school in multiple cases, totaling well over 1000 students infected within the period of a month. At least 40 students from multiple schools were sent to hospital according to news reports at the time. On page 10 you can find a summary of each event, links and quotes from news sources are also provided throughout the thread for every case.

At first glance Norovirus may sound like a perfectly rational explanation, but it never quite felt right to me for a few reasons. For one thing the highly infectious nature of the virus and the severity of the symptoms didn't seem like something a common gastrointestinal virus would be capable of. The other main thing was their inability or reluctance to identify exactly what the virus was, officials usually suspected Norovirus but it was consistently referred to as an "unknown virus" in news reports and there was never any conclusive test results to prove what it was.

In my entire school life I never experienced anything like that, but time passed and I assumed perhaps it was just a normal stomach bug. Then two months ago I saw a thread titled Mysterious virus shuts down every Colorado school in this area, reporting that all 46 schools in the Grand Junction-area school district will be shut down due to the spread of an unknown virus, and it had the exact same symptoms, causing them to think it was a highly contagious form of Norovirus. I would recommend reading through that thread as well because I post some detailed comparisons showing how eerily similar these events are.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – All 46 schools in a Grand Junction-area school district will be shut down on Thursday and Friday as an unknown virus continues to spread among students and district employees.

The Mesa County Valley School District 51 will re-open after next week's Thanksgiving break.

"We are taking this highly unusual action because this virus is extremely contagious and spreading quickly across our schools," district nursing coordinator Tanya Marvin said in a news release. "In addition, it appears that there is now a second, related virus that is affecting students, some of whom have already been ill in recent weeks. The combination of the two has created an unprecedented spread of illness."

Mysterious virus shuts down every school in Colorado district

However the last update from the OP of that thread posted a new s article claiming the test results for Norovirus came back negative however they still "aren't ruling norovirus out" pending further tests, of which it seems we've heard nothing about. This is where things start to get more intriguing. On page 3 a "longtime teacher" says they've "never seen a bug spread this fast" and they are hearing talk of a new virus which has "evolved now with added fever". Another first hand account on the same page states that their child was hospitalized and sent to urgent care:

originally posted by: frugal
Wednesday night my child threw up at college four times at a University near Greenville and Clemson SC. He went to urgent care Thursday morning. He had two IVbags, antibiotics, and anti nausea pills issued to him. A girl was also in there with the same symptoms. We feel he got it from the campus food court spoons and tongs people use at the buffet.

Then on the 14th of this month it was reported that an unknown illness in Barbourville, Ky has college student quarantined. He was quarantined due to showing signs of a hemorrhagic fever, causing people to suspect he had Ebola since it's one of the only viruses which causes a hemorrhagic fever. Testing quickly revealed that he didn't have Ebola or any other rare disease they tested for, however the last reports I could find state they are still unable to determine what made him sick.

Officials with Union College said the student quarantined at Barbourville ARH Tuesday is doing much better Wednesday.

The student is already asking for Wendy's fast food and watching Netflix. But doctors still do not have a diagnosis for the possible infectious disease that brought officials from the state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate.

Updat e: College officials say Union College student does not have infectious disease

A hemorrhagic fever is essentially a more intense type of fever which has other symptoms commonly including nausea, fatigue, muscle aches, headaches, vomiting, and diarrhea. Severe cases of hemorrhagic fevers can cause internal bleeding but its rare to die from blood loss and the severity of the symptoms depends on the type of virus. Also, it's likely the student was suffering from a combination of symptoms which had the appearance of a hemorrhagic fever rather than a real a hemorrhagic fever. My point is that there's no need to worry about students bleeding internally, the vast majority recover within a few days.

To summarize, at almost exactly the same time as the Wuhan outbreak was starting, this student was showing symptoms of a hemorrhagic fever so he was quarantined, despite not having left the country recently, however it was reported he did have family recently visit from overseas. Then roughly 2 months before that there was a massive outbreak of an unknown virus or possibly two viruses which mixed and evolved, causing 46 schools to be shut down in the Colorado area. Also worth noting is that the new Coronavirus causes a fever but the severity of it varies, a small fraction of people are being hospitalized by it.

Once again, I don't necessarily think these events in the U.S. are related to the Wuhan outbreak but the outbreaks at all these schools are most certainly related. It occurred to me that I should probably look for other outbreaks at schools around the time of the Colorado outbreak late last year. Based on the events I documented in 2011 it seemed probable that I would find other similar cases. With little effort I found a huge number of viral outbreaks closing schools and showing Norovirus-like symptoms, along with reports of multiple students being hospitalized.

One Thursday, 19 students and one teacher went home sick, school officials said. On Friday, the student body was down by more than 75 percent. Of the school's 2,300 students, only 549 were in attendance Friday.

The students who are in school are taking to social media with some sharing graphic videos of vomit spattered restrooms. Many are sharing photos and videos of themselves and classmates wearing masks using hand sanitizer and sanitzier wipes.
...
A Creekside parent tells First Coast News that one child has been hospitalized.

"It is 3:00 a.m. My son has been throwing up since 4:00 yesterday afternoon. Vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps, fever, horrible headache ... we took him to Baptist South ... He is severely dehydrated even after 3 bags of fluid," a text message from a parent states. "... This virus is horrible. I am livid that Creekside feels they can disinfect the entire school and continue as normal by Friday morning ... "

Stomach virus keeps more than 75 percent of students home Friday from St. Johns County high school, sports, other activities canceled

Again we see the same old trend that we saw throughout most of the 2011 cases, Norovirus-like symptoms but no confirmation on the type of virus. As you will see in a moment this failure to name the virus gets even stranger.

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A day after more than a dozen students and a teacher went home sick from Creekside High School with a suspected stomach virus, most of the student body did not show up for school, according to the St. Johns County School District.

As of noon, only 549 of the 2,300 students at the school had shown up for classes, meaning only 23.9% were in attendance on Friday.
...
In an email sent out to parents, school officials said they had gotten in contact with the St. Johns County Health Department and that the symptoms are similar to Norovirus. However, that has not been confirmed by the Health Department.

Over 75% of Creekside High students miss school after virus outbreak

Apparently, just days after the Colorado outbreak, a stomach virus closed every school in the Greater Albany School District.

The rapid spread of a stomach virus through the Greater Albany School District has forced the closure of all schools in the district for the rest of the week. The closure comes days after a Colorado school district of about 22,000 students was forced to close after a similar viral outbreak tore through its 46 schools.

CBS Portland affiliate KOIN-TV reported the school district in Linn County, Oregon, was trying to contain the spread of the virus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea.
...
"When we have 20 kids actively vomiting in a school that already has 17% gone we know that we've got a problem. We have to stop the exposure," said Tanya Marvin, the head of nursing for the school district.

Stomach virus shutters entire Oregon school district

It also turns out these outbreaks have been happening in England at approximately the same time, and it seems with a level of severity even worse than U.S. schools. Keep in mind all these cases happened late November or early December of last year.

A primary school has been forced to close after at least one hundred and ten children have been hit with a 'flu-like virus'.

Around one-third of pupils who attend Rowlatts Mead Primary Academy in Leicester are suffering with sickness and vomiting after an outbreak of illness at the school.

A spokeswoman for the trust which runs the school said the virus would not been named following advice issued by Public Health England.

Primary school closed after one third of pupils contract "flu like virus"

Notice the part I highlighted in bold, on what Earth does it make sense to withhold the name of the virus affecting students, especially if it's a common gastrointestinal bug. If you think the article is mistaken well it's reported multiple other places:

The spokeswoman also said the virus has not been named in the advice issued by Public Health England.

Another Leicester school, Braunstone Frith Primary, was also closed on Friday due to a 'flu-like virus' while staff cleaned the building.

Around 148 students were reported to be suffering from the illlness.

Vomiting virus outbreak closes primary school after 110 pupils fall ill forcing staff into 'full and deep clean' of the premises

Public Health England also issued a statement listing symptoms which include "sudden onset of fever, cough as well as sore throat, aching muscles and joints". Again we see a list of familiar symptoms which look suspicious, but the vomiting and diarrhea symptoms allow it to be passed off as a common stomach virus. The following article reports an outbreak at 60 schools across North England, with many closed and some requiring a deep clean.

Around 60 schools across the North East are reporting absences of staff and pupils following an outbreak of a flu-like virus.

Experts from the Government run Public Health England North East (PHE NE) health protection team have confirmed they have been working with dozens of schools and local authorities in the region.
...
Meanwhile, a third of children at the 450-pupil Holystone Primary School, in North Tyneside , were off sick on Tuesday.
...
And on Tuesday, Jarrow School and Jarrow Cross C of E Primary School were shut to allow a deep clean to take place.

Health officials called to 60 North East schools to deal with virus outbreak

This article from just a few days later reports on 6 more schools being shut down and sterilized.

Four schools in Bradford have closed as well as two in Leeds with some undergoing a "deep clean".
...
In Leeds, Parklands Primary has shut as well as Leeds East Academy.

The academy posted on its website that an "increasing number of staff and students had been affected by symptoms similar to those of the norovirus" and that it would open as normal on Monday.

The cases come after pupils in about 60 schools across north-east England were sent home due to symptoms of flu and norovirus.

Schools in Bradford and Leeds closed due to winter viruses

This report states around 120 students from the same school fell ill, forcing the school to close. It also states that 4 people were sent to hospital as a result. If young students are being hospitalized you have to have some concern about how it would affect older people in a large outbreak which escaped beyond just schools.

About 120 pupils at Durham Blue Coat CE Aided Junior School, in Newton Hall, are thought to be experiencing flu like symptoms, which has forced the school to close.

Three children and one adult have been admitted to hospital due to the severity of their symptoms, according to a letter sent to parents.

Headteacher Mrs Grieve said: “Cleaning staff carried out a thorough clean of the school on Friday evening to help prevent the spread of germs.

Four admitted to hospital after sickness outbreak at Durham school

Outstanding Thread.

S&F.

I'm a little taken-a-back. I didn't take any of this seriously - until now.

It's bad isn't it.

Not time to panic - time to prep for sure.

I'm going to have food water, meds, flue treatment, aspirin - make a list and fill up my pantry.

This hits my area (I'm right next door to two schools) - I'll not be leaving my house.

Thanks for the info -

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

Can you imagine if some nutters released a virus onto the populace?

Some crazed Doctor or some crazed Terrorist?

I have been sick with a nasty virus since right after Christmas. Still hacking. Never ran a fever. No flu symptoms, just respiratory. I have asthma and severe allergies, but my family has experienced the same, and they do not, it’s so long lasting though. It is definite going around and has been since right around Christmas in my area...

The pediatrician said (we were there on Jan 2) that this was some form of RSV virus (no tests were done on any of us) and that it’s going around and it’s packing a punch this year.... she herself had lost her voice and was wearing a mask.... she’s young and usually chipper and healthy , said she hadn’t ever been this sick herself. I’m beginning to wonder about this.

I haven’t read all of your thread yet but am marking and commenting to remind me to do so when I have more time. Looks like great info and resonates with some thoughts I’ve been having of my own about what is going around out here this season.

Flag and thanks for sharing your research

a reply to: SouthernGift

No flu symptoms, just respiratory.

If you don't have flu-like symptoms or gastrointestinal symptoms (vomiting and diarrhea) then it's unlikely to be this same virus.

originally posted by: CrazeeWorld777
a reply to: ChaoticOrder

Can you imagine if some nutters released a virus onto the populace?

Some crazed Doctor or some crazed Terrorist?

don't have a source but heard somewhere
the Chinese flu is in the area of their bio warfare lab

definitely worth keeping an eye on

(perhaps I'm wrong and the Colorado / US virus isn't related to the Chinese one)

edit; source

www.washingtontimes.com...

The deadly animal virus epidemic spreading globally may have originated in a Wuhan laboratory linked to China’s covert biological weapons program, according to an Israeli biological warfare expert.

Radio Free Asia this week rebroadcast a local Wuhan television report from 2015 showing China’s most advanced virus research laboratory known the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Radio Free Asia reported.

The laboratory is the only declared site in China capable of working with deadly viruses.

is someone in China saying 'oopsie'? doubt we'll ever get the truth from them.

a reply to: ElGoobero

burdman30ott6 already made a great thread on that lab which is worth reading: Did China's New Plague Really Start In An Illegal Animal Market?

a reply to: ElGoobero

Definitely makes one think..

Excellent work. The events are most likely not related, however, it does go to show how very susceptible we are to this sort of thing. Spanish Flu traveled the world and killed so many in a time when travel was not as easy. It will happen again, just wonder if we will be able to notice it in time to stop the broad dissemination of the virus/bacteria.

The fact that China is taking such drastic action does have me paying attention tho..........

My grandkids were getting viruses often, dragging them back from school. The tests showed they were not the flu almost all the time, but they were viruses. They actually checked them because they are very intolerant to the flu vaccine. People are calling those viruses the flu or coronoviruses, but there are thousands of types of viruses out there that usually are not a problem, but now they are. What the hell is going on that kids are having bad responses to viruses we lived symbiotically with before.

My paranoia is showing!!!
😷

Great information though.
I remember something similar going around a couple of school districts here in Alabama a while back.

There’s so much out there that seems new and unknown..... or either we aren’t fighting it as well.... something. It ain’t always been like this and I’ve been paying attention for a long time. yuck subject to tackle and one that gets me every time. Lol. We are so vulnerable to that which we can’t even see.

Ever so adamantly looking for that balance between preparedness and panic!! 😉


a reply to: ChaoticOrder

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

Well you can go from year to year and see that schools do often close due to the flu...just type in schools closed year and flu...
wtvr.com...
www.the74million.org...
www.mysanantonio.com...
www.foxnews.com...
abcnews.go.com...
www.sciencedaily.com...
www.infectioncontroltoday.com...
you get the idea...this has been happening for a long time..people are just getting smarter and are just shutting down schools to stop the spread..nothing new




Wash your hands all you want but if you don't clean your cellphones everytime you wash your hands you are not really doing anything to stop the spread...

The wu-flu is about to be a game changer.

a reply to: chrismarco

Well most of those articles are about the influenza virus and don't mention anything about Norovirus or gastrointestinal symptoms. However it doesn't at all surprise me to see that similar outbreaks have happened at schools in previous flu seasons, and based on the data provided in the articles you link to, it's been getting much worse in recent years. Also it seems to be worst of all this year, the number of schools closed seems much higher than anything reported in previous years. I'm not saying it's unheard of for schools to close due to viral outbreaks, I'm saying the way in which this virus spreads and the severity of it seems unusual, as well as testing negative for Norovirus in one case and the refusal to name the virus in another case. However, one of your articles from January 2017 is about a stomach virus, and it states that tests came back positive for Norovirus:

The Eastern Howard School Corporation in Indiana, where Ms. Romero’s children go, closed on Tuesday after 27 percent of the elementary-school children had been out sick the prior Friday. One school nurse fell ill over the weekend and another had a child who came down with the virus, and the district couldn’t find substitute nurses.

St. Charles East High School near Chicago was closed for two days earlier this month after 800 out of its 2,500 students called in sick and county health department tests confirmed norovirus was to blame. And Globe Park Elementary School in Woonsocket, R.I., closed for two days last week due to an outbreak of a noro-like virus, according to its principal, after more than 100 of its 513 students were sick the previous Friday.

Highly contagious stomach flu rips through US schools

You can tell this is the same virus by the symptoms and the "highly contagious" nature of it. Just a day or two ago the total number of people infected with the Wuhan virus was around 800, and here we have 800 students in a single school contracting a virus. I find it highly questionable that a common stomach virus like Norovirus could infect a third of students, especially when we have teachers saying they've never seen a virus spread so fast and we have officials saying they are taking highly unusual action to contain the virus. Just because Norovirus was detected in this particular case doesn't mean it was the only virus present. Having said that, there is a possibility it's an evolved form of Norovirus which is more contagious, after all I highly doubt Norovirus has remained the same over the last few decades.

Another one of your articles which I found interesting was from January 2018, apparently that flu season was also quite bad and resulted in the death of 30 children across a number of schools. What I find weird about this is that they mention nothing about Norovirus and blame it entirely on the H3N2. Can a flu virus really kill that many children? I can understand why Norovirus could kill, because the gastrointestinal symptoms can cause severe dehydration, and I suspect that is most likely what killed these children. As we can see from some of these other articles, they often refer to it as a "flu-like" virus but then go onto describe symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea.

Although there is no official count of school closings for flu-related concerns, The 74 has tallied at least 11 districts and nine scattered individual schools across 12 states that have closed for a full day or longer because of excessive absences and concerns about the virus. Thirty children have died, and the governor of Alabama has declared a state of emergency due to the flu.

The Russellville School District in Arkansas closed all 10 of its schools Friday after seeing 17 to 20 percent of students absent each day since returning from the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, a “dramatic uptick” from the usual absentee rate of 5 to 7 percent, Ashley Snellenberger, the district’s communication coordinator, told The 74. In addition to preventing the spread of germs, the closure will also allow the custodial staff to thoroughly clean the building and give sick students time to recover over the extended weekend.

Experts are calling this flu season “moderately severe,” roughly comparable to the 2014–15 outbreak, but more severe than last year. The vaccine is less effective than usual because the flu is largely being caused by a virus called H3N2, which is harder to prevent with vaccines and causes a more severe illness. Despite the decreased effectiveness, doctors still recommend that people get vaccinated, even this late in the season, as the shot can still prevent the illness or decrease its severity.

When Class Is Cancelled Due to the Flu: Schools Across at Least 12 States Are Keeping Kids Home Due to Epidemic

The article also quotes a tweet made by the CDC which is interesting:

#FluFactFriday: Did you know? Over the past 15 flu seasons, this is the 1st time all states in the entire continental U.S. have reported widespread #flu activity during the same week.

— CDC Flu (@CDCFlu) January 19, 2018

Another one of your articles from January 2018 covers a couple of the deaths and talks about a "growing epidemic":

School closings in Florida and Oklahoma and the deaths of a 12-year-old Florida boy and 37-year-old Indiana woman, both reportedly from influenza, are the latest signs of a growing epidemic across the United States, experts say.
...
Palm Beach County health officials have not confirmed the cause of death, however, according to ABC Palm Beach affiliate WPBF-TV.
...
One school district in Florida's panhandle, Gulf District Schools, closed all its schools today because of the "significant impact from influenza-like cases in our school system."
...
So far 37 flu-related deaths in children have been confirmed across the U.S. since Oct. 1, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). New York, Puerto Rico and 39 other states are experiencing high activity of influenza-like illness, according to the CDC's most recent activity report.

New school closings, deaths reported as flu epidemic intensifies

Noticed this one :

"Enteric — The idea that coronaviruses produce diarrhea in humans is intriguing because of their clear intestinal pathogenicity in animals. Early human studies depended on finding "coronavirus-like particles" (CVLPs) by electron microscopy in stool samples. The most convincing studies showed a strong association between the presence of CVLPs and diarrhea in infants [76] or necrotizing enterocolitis in newborns [77]. In several studies, CVLPs have been purified that appear to be antigenically related to HCoV-OC43 [76].

All four HCoV species have been found by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in the stools of a small proportion of infants and children hospitalized with diarrhea (often with respiratory symptoms as well) [30,78]. Three surveys of diarrhea used molecular methods to screen for all four HCoV species known to cause community-acquired infections. In one study, all four species were found in stools from 2.5 percent of 878 children with diarrhea and 1.8 percent of 112 asymptomatic children by RT-PCR; however, in this and other surveys, most diarrhea-associated coronavirus-positive stools also contained other known pathogens, such as rotavirus or norovirus [78,79]. In a study that used RT-PCR to investigate the frequency of coronaviruses in stool samples from children and adults with gastrointestinal illness, CoV-HKU1 was found in 4 of 479 patients (0.8 percent), and no other HCoV species were found [80].

A study assessed the association between gastrointestinal manifestations (diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and abdominal pain) in adults reporting to general practitioners with respiratory symptoms plus systemic symptoms or signs (fever, chills, headache, or myalgia) [81]. Viruses were sought from respiratory and stool samples and bacteria from stool samples only. Gastrointestinal symptoms, which occurred in 57 percent of patients, were more likely to occur in those with fever >39°C (102.2°F), headache, a gastrointestinal pathogen, or HCoV respiratory infection. Although a few HCoVs were found in stool samples, the authors thought that these were likely swallowed viruses. The pathogenetic mechanism of these gastrointestinal manifestations remains unclear."

www.uptodate.com...


So if corona can also cause those symptoms ....

Schools, certainly in uk, tend to get hit bad with infections for three reasons. 1. They are hospital hot. Heating is on way too high and it is stifling ( I did some work in a high school and can vouch for this), 2. The surfaces, e.g. Desks, doors, hand rails, lockers don't get disinfected or cleaned that often and 3. The number of pupils are at max per class so everyone is squashed up together.

This environment is the perfect breeding ground and modifying ground for bacteria and viruses. Eventually it develops sick building syndrome as germs ingrain themselves into the building structures.

I used to find my kids would be fine all holidays and then within a week or so of going back to school they would be hit with some illness.

a reply to: Kenzo

Interesting information. One of the other main things I didn't mention in this thread was this Noro-like virus can also causes quite serious respiratory issues. The first two cases I actually found back in 2011 were very strange because the symptoms arose so fast they initially suspected a gas leak or carbon monoxide poisoning, but nothing could be detected in the air. It happened right at the same time as many other schools were experiencing outbreaks of what they suspected was Norovirus and the symptoms were the same. It was the rapid nature of the virus propagation and the fact it sent dozens of students to hospital which initially got me to make that 2011 thread.

Barnett Stadium, Houston, Texas - 4th Nov 2011

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Nearly two dozen people fell ill at a high school football game Friday night in southeast Houston.

All 22 Austin High School students who were taken to hospitals Friday had returned home and were recovering Saturday. No students were hospitalized overnight.

Officials said it happened just after halftime, shortly before 9pm. Part of the stadium had to be evacuated while a decontamination zone was set up for sick students.

Symptoms included nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, coughing and a scratchy throat.

One firefighter was also treated, but was OK and we're told he drove some of the patients to the hospital.

On Saturday, the HazMat team again reported no readings on any monitors for any substance at the scene. Tests for chemicals in the air and on the students' band instruments also came back negative.

Nearly 2 dozen fall ill at HS football game at Barnett Stadium

St. John Central High School, Belmont County, Ohio - 3rd Nov 2011

BELLAIRE, Ohio -- A principal and 13 students were treated at local hospitals after a becoming ill at a Belmont County high school.

Initially, officials thought the students became ill from a natural gas leak, but Columbia Gas workers said there were no signs of a leak. And as of 5 p.m., it was still unknown what made people at St. John Central High School sick.

Belmont County emergency dispatchers said they initially received reports that several people at the school were suffering from headaches, eye irritation, vomiting and nausea.

"Emergency responders immediately conducted tests and determined there were no elevated levels of natural gas or carbon monoxide in the structure Thursday," stated a news release from Pat DeFrancis, director of communications for the Diocese of Steubenville.

13 students taken to hospitals after becoming sick at St. John Central; cause unknown

a reply to: ChaoticOrder

From a recent experience with my father, I can attest that most viral/bacterial illnesses go unidentified - and if they persist, it can take weeks to get to a high-level facility. The patient, once stable, can be discharged from the hospital, despite the microbe responsible still not having been identified.

They take the symptoms, take blood tests, and prescribe medications, hoping the body overcomes the infection, but they do not necessarily keep patients isolated or quarantined, despite not having identified the problem.