(Image source from: 200 Ohio university students sick by norovirus})

At least 200 students at Miami University of Ohio reportedly sickened by the norovirus,a university spokeswoman,Carole Johnson said on Wednesday.

It is the third  large outbreak of the virus on  a US campus. Earlier, around 150 students at the University of Michigan and approximately 200 students at Ursinus College  in Pennsylvania were suffered from the deadly virus. Nearly 20-25 students required medical attention at both the universities.

According to a university spokeswoman, the norovirus outbreak reported at Miami University, last Tuesday, when five students with complaints  of  nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain and vomiting, came into a school health center at the Oxford, Ohio, main campus, which is  located about 35 miles, north of Cincinnati. A number of students have tested positive for norovirus, Johnson added.

A professor of epidemiology at John Hopkins University, Bill Moss, said that,  a norovirus outbreak can “be difficult to get a hold on” once it’s started.

The university has not been able to identify the initial source of the virus. There is a population of nearly 20,000 students, faculty and staff in the university.

Johnson said that, "we have been very diligent in our cleaning and are using products that combat the virus in our residential and dining halls.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year,  Norovirus affects between 19 million and 21 million people in the United States and also cause 570 to 800 related deaths every year.

Nandini