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The norovirus outbreak linked to a Chipotle near Boston College has sickened more than 120 students, an official at the school said in a notice directed to "members of the Boston College community." BC director of university health services Thomas Nary said nearly all cases are related to students who ate at the Chipotle restaurant on Cleveland Circle over the weekend.
In its latest update Wednesday afternoon, the Boston Public Health Commission announced "80 known cases that ate at Chipotle" and "others who are contacts to these cases have also become ill." Commission director of communications Ché Knight said Wednesday morning initial tests confirmed the illnesses were caused by norovirus, not the nationwide E. coli outbreak linked to Chipotle. That public health disaster has sickened 52 in nine states.
Boston College spokesperson Jack Dunn told Bloomberg several students have visited local hospitals and been released. Word of the outbreak first broke Monday afternoon when a Boston College basketball coach told SB Nation's BC Interruption eight of his players who had eaten at Chipotle "were confirmed to have E. coli." That information proved to be incorrect.
The Chipotle outpost on Cleveland Circle remains closed as health officials attempt to disinfect the restaurant.
Update: December 10, 2:30 p.m. After confirming norovirus as a cause for the illnesses, E. coli officially has been ruled out. Additional tests "have now returned as negative for bacterial pathogens, including E. Coli," according to the Boston Public Health Commission.
