Health officials say 130 students of University of Southern California have fallen sick and been hospitalized due to a norovirus and not contaminated food this weekend. According to university spokesman James Grant the campus community was alerted about the virus early Saturday and preliminary examination has found a norovirus to be the cause of the illness on campus. "We don't think it's a food borne illness. It looks like it's a human-contact virus, stomach flu." He added that the initial findings would not be confirmed until the test results are returned by the county health department in two to three weeks.

The highly-contagious stomach virus, that is not serious, but can cause vomiting, diarrhea and cramps and the outbreak seems to have been centered on a cluster of dormitories on USC's campus.

Dr. Lawrence Neinstein, the director of the USC University Park Health Center, said though the virus is contagious, it’s self-limiting and the school is not recommending a full-scale quarantine, he said. University health officials are, however, urging students who do not feel well to stay home to avoid infecting others. Neinstein said the illness had an incubation period of 12 hours though the virus can be present for several days after a person recovers. He said washing of hands was particularly important to prevent the virus spreading.  

3,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and 2,000 containers of sanitizing wipes have been ordered by the school for distribution on Monday when the classes will resume as per regular schedule.