Stomach ailment hits St. Paul elementary school

Ninety-four of the 509 students at Groveland Park Elementary School in St. Paul were absent Wednesday, and several parents reported their children had vomiting and abdominal pain, school officials said.

While those are common symptoms of a food-borne illness, Ann Hoxie, assistant director of student health and wellness for the school district, said she believes it's more likely a routine stomach flu making the rounds.

Hoxie said she's been in touch with nurses at other schools in the district who reported no unusually high numbers of absences.

"We will continue to look at [the question of food-borne illnesses] but the logs we keep show all the foods were at the right temperature.

"Some kids who ate school lunches got sick and some kids who ate their bag lunches got sick," she said. "Nutrition staff ate the meals and none of them are sick. From where I stand, I think we've got something else going on."

On Thursday, school officials will compare the list of children who ate the school lunch with the absentee list.

The school district's nutrition staff prepares 30,000 lunches and 15,000 breakfasts each day, Hoxie said.

Groveland Park Principal Becky Pederson made an automated call to parents to tell them about the "significant incidence of stomach cramps and vomiting" and urged parents to keep sick kids at home and to be vigilant about hand washing.

The illnesses were reported to the city Health Department, which inspects and monitors the schools' food service, she said.

Mandy Richie, the district's public relations coordinator, said the large number of absences could be misleading because Wednesday was an early release day and the number of absences sometimes increases on those days.

Minnesota Health Department spokesman Doug Schultz said the department has not received a report of the illnesses "so it would be difficult for us to say exactly what this is."

If it does turn out to be a food-borne illness, "it wouldn't be surprising if it was norovirus," he said.

Common symptoms of norovirus are vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping, the website said. Symptoms usually begin one or two days after ingesting the virus but may appear as early as 12 hours after exposure. Most people recover in one or two days and have no long-term adverse health effects. Sometimes, infected people may experience milder symptoms for a week or more.

Care instructions include drinking plenty of fluids to avoid becoming dehydrated, and washing hands often.