111 children sick; but authorities not told

On Wednesday, one child at the school was sick.

On Thursday, dozens more fell ill.

By Tuesday, 88 children and staff had been struck down by norovirus – later suspected to have spread through infected food handlers in the canteen at the private boys’ school.

As the cases rose above 100, still the boarding school remained open.

Seven days after the first child started vomiting, boys aged 5 to 12 continued to walk through the gates, taking the acute form of gastroenteritis home to parents and siblings.

Three days later, the school closed.

By then, 111 boys from the roll of 365 at Christchurch’s Medbury Independent School for Boys were sick – an infection rate of 30 per cent. of the ship’s 3050 passengers became ill.

The school says it dealt with the outbreak well, and is equipped to deal with crises in future. putting people’s lives at risk, but you’re actually breaking the law,’’ Humphrey said.

‘‘There have been outbreaks before in parts of the country where a specialist has not notified public health, and that is concerning. If [a doctor] had seen a kid with meningococcal, not told us and, say, their brother or sister caught it and died, we would prosecute.’’

Medbury School were asked to comment, but declined interview requests. In a statement, the new headmaster, Ian Macpherson, said he had consulted with senior staff who were there at the time and they considered the crisis was dealt with quickly.

The school believed their notification duties were met when they told the nurse, Medbury School’s liaison to the Canterbury District Health Board, on the Monday.

There were 188 norovirus outbreaks confirmed by ESR in 2016.

This is not a complete record of outbreaks, as not every crisis is reported. About 50 per cent were reported early enough to be tested and the pathogen identified. through person-to-person contact and food, Sherwood said.

‘‘The bottom line is – if people actually follow good food handling advice, wash their hands and don’t go back to school while they’ve got diarrhoea, that’s the only way to break transmission.

‘‘But it is difficult. The virus can survive on surfaces for days.’’

The Medbury outbreak was contained by the closure of the boarding school on Saturday August 12, for four days. Sports and social events were cancelled, the sick isolated, and MPI was called in to review food safety practices.