Office of Communicable Diseases

Information for Health Care Providers

Health Advisory to Kent County Health Care Providers
1/23/07
GI Illness at Harold Scott Elementary School, Warwick

On Monday, January 22, the Harold F. Scott Elementary School in Warwick experienced more than the usual number of absences and contacted the Rhode Island Department of Health. Many of the absent children were kept home with gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. The school nurse at Harold F. Scott Elementary sent another 10 children home with similar symptoms. The symptoms began on Sunday for many of the children and some of the children had a low-grade fever. The illness appears to be mild and of short duration, clinically consistent with norovirus gastroenteritis. Other schools in the Warwick area are not reporting similar absences. An epidemiologic investigation is being conducted and laboratory confirmation is awaited.

For more information on norovirus infection and their prevention, please see:
http://www.health.ri.gov/disease/communicable/norovirus.php or contact the Office of Communicable Disease at 222-2577.