Boston Chipotle Location Gave 80 Students Suspected Norovirus

Over the weekend 80 Boston College students became sick after eating at a Chipotle restaurant. Early tests suggest that the highly contagious norovirus maybe the reason.

The Mexican chain has temporarily closed the Cleveland Circle location where the students had eaten, but will not close any other locations in the Boston area. Chipotle spokesman told Reuters, "The pattern here looks like norovirus isolated to one restaurant."

The students have been tested for both E.coli and the norovirus, which have similar symptoms of server vomiting and diarrhea. But the tests are not expected for two more days. The students, which include members of the men's basketball team have all complained of those symptoms.

In response to the results, the Boston commission, as reported by CNN, released a statement saying, "We urge residents to take proper precautions to prevent the spread of illness, which include: washing your hands regularly, avoiding close contact or sharing food and drink with others who might be ill, and staying home if you are ill."

Chipotle has been hit by an outbreak before, with the E. coli incident in October. The E. coli outbreak affected 52 people in nine states, with 20 hospitalized. Because of that incident, the chain had to shut down 43 restaurants in Washington and Oregon, with more cases reported in California, Minnesota, New York, and Ohio.

CBS News reported about a statement from Chipotle on Monday. "We do not have any evidence to suggest that this incident is related the previous E. coli incident. There are no confirmed cases of E. coli connected to Chipotle in Massachusetts."

The norovirus is one of the most common causes of food related disease in the US, causing as many as 21 million illnesses each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The virus can live for up to six weeks. Benjamin Chapman, a food safety specialist at North Carolina State University said, "Every time you have a vomit event, you're looking at billions of (virus) particles, and it takes only a few to make you sick."

The chain also had been the setting of a previous norovirus outbreak in California this past August. More than 60 customers became ill after eating at a Chipotle location in Simi Valley, with the final count becoming 80 customers and 18 employees falling sick with gastrointestinal symptoms. The cause of that outbreak was not able to be determined.