Norovirus-like illness strikes Everett daycare; EdCC student has TB
Published 1:30 am Friday, August 26, 2016
EVERETT — The Snohomish Health District is investigating the outbreak of a norovirus-like illness at an Everett daycare center that has sickened dozens of kids.
And it has tested people at Edmonds Community College for tuberculosis after a student there was diagnosed with the disease.
Some 40 children out of 164 who attend the Starbright Early Learning Center on SE Everett Mall Way have been sickened with the norovirus-like illness, said Katie Curtis, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish Health District. And 13 staff also have become ill, she said.
The daycare center cares for children kindergarten-aged and younger, Curtis said.
The symptoms of norovirus, sometimes called cruise ship disease, are vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pains that occur 12 to 48 hours after being exposed. “It’s just one of those bugs that’s so easy to pass around,” Curtis said. Symptoms last up to three days.
The illnesses were reported to the health district Wednesday by daycare center staff.
Careful hand washing after using the bathroom can help stop its spread.
Starbright Early Learning Center is expected to be closed Friday and reopen Monday, she said.
Meanwhile, the Snohomish Health District has conducted tests on 65 students and staff at Edmonds Community College after a student was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
There’s no indication that any other students or staff at the college have become infected, said Naomi Kern, the health district’s tuberculosis supervisor.
“Thankfully, TB is not highly contagious,” she said. For another person to become infected with TB, they need to be around someone with the disease for a total of eight hours over a three-month period, Kern said.
The health district worked with the college to determine which classes the student had been in and for how long and then notified those who may have been exposed.
So far this year, there have been 22 people in Snohomish County diagnosed with TB. Last year, 30 cases were diagnosed.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
