What to know about the virus and how to prevent its spread
Norovirus cases have surged in the U.S., reaching the highest number of outbreaks from August 2024 to February 2025 since 2012, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were 1,676 norovirus outbreaks from Aug. 1, 2024, to Feb. 5, 2025, compared to 729 outbreaks in the same period reported last year.
Norovirus, which is sometimes called the stomach flu or stomach bug, is a very contagious virus that causes gastroenteritis, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain. Less common symptoms include fever, headache and body aches, according to the CDC.
Eric Maze, Public Relations Manager at MU Health Care, said the University Hospital emergency department was seeing roughly 20 patients per day with similar symptoms in the week of March 3. He said the number of patients is now decreasing. Outbreaks of the virus frequently occur on college campuses due to increased shared spaces and high-touch surfaces, the CDC reported.
Symptoms usually start within 12 to 24 hours of exposure and can last one to three days. According to the CDC, it is still possible to spread norovirus up to two weeks after symptoms stop. The virus is present in vomit and feces and can be spread through direct contact with an infected person, eating or drinking something contaminated with the virus or touching contaminated surfaces and then one’s mouth.
University of Missouri first-year student Anna Peterson recently experienced norovirus symptoms. She also saw many of her coworkers at MizzouRec get sick, especially those who lived in residence halls. She said it seemed like everyone who lived on her floor in Johnston Hall got sick.
“It’s hard because your mom isn’t there,” Peterson said. “I feel like that’s the hardest part, and it’s just so cramped, so that it doesn’t feel like there’s room to be sick. You’re sick on your roommate’s stuff, which doesn’t feel very respectful, and you want to rest and be alone and you can’t, and you’re just sharing and going to the bathroom in other people’s sickness, and that’s not fun either. It’s just hard.”
Peterson tried to keep her roommate healthy by “aggressively cleaning the whole dorm,” she said. Despite cleaning surfaces they both touched, Peterson’s roommate got sick two days later.
“It was nice to be healthy while the other person was sick, because we were able to get things [and] take care of each other,” Peterson said. “But yeah, it was nice that we had the room when we were sick, sleeping on the bathroom floor was not fun.”
Though it is often called the stomach flu, norovirus has no relation to the influenza virus. A flu shot will not protect against norovirus.
According to the CDC, hand sanitizer does not work well against norovirus either. Wenjun Ma — a professor in the School of Medicine and the College of Veterinary Medicine and an expert in virology — said thorough and frequent hand washing is more effective at killing the virus.
As norovirus is not normally an airborne disease, Ma said wearing a mask when infected is probably not necessary. He recommended taking measures like disinfecting with bleach, washing contaminated laundry in very hot water and wearing rubber gloves when dealing with contaminated surfaces and clothes.
Though there is no specific medicine to treat norovirus, people generally feel better within three days. The CDC recommends drinking plenty of fluids slowly to prevent dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea. Peterson said she used Gatorade and Liquid IV to rehydrate.
Though norovirus mainly resolves itself, Ma said medical attention may be required for severe dehydration. Peterson said one of her friends with norovirus visited the emergency room to get an IV after passing out several times due to dehydration.
You can call the Student Health Center at 573-882-7481 to make an appointment or to reach a nurse for medical assistance.
Assistant professors donate materials to residence halls
After hearing about the number of students getting sick, two assistant professors of architectural studies donated water, Gatorade and saltine crackers to students in the Schurz, Hatch and Gateway Halls. Kate Stockton and Debora Verniz dropped supplies off on Friday, March 7 and Monday, March 10 to select dorms after they determined that donating to all of the residence halls on campus would be out of budget.
“[Students] described that there was quite a bit of sickness in the dorms, especially the communal bathrooms,” Stockton said. “There’s not a lot I can do to cure the disease, but they were saying there were students that were having trouble hydrating there, just because so many people were needing to hydrate at once… I had heard that they were doordashing things to themselves just to get hydration.”
Verniz said she wanted to donate materials with Stockton to help students just as the MU community has helped her. When her parents got sick, Verniz said that she had to travel to visit them and other faculty members helped teach her classes.
“We have resources, we have cars and finances,” Stockton said. “So I figured it’s just better to act fast on some of this stuff, just little ways where we can help. You know, I’m sure the university has much more power to solve these problems. Just little things like this, it’s easy enough for us to do.”
Edited by Julianna Mejia | jmejia@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Jayden Bates-Bland and Natalie Kientzy | nkientzy@themaneater.com
Edited by Annie Goodykoontz | agoodykoontz@themaneater.com