By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Nineteen Princeton University students have been infected in roughly the past month with a viral illness that health experts said is most common in children under the age of 5. Few details have been released about outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease, only that the students “had been seen for the disease at Princeton’s McCosh Health Center since Sept. 17,” university spokesman Martin A. Mbugua said Wednesday. The total was current as of Tuesday.
He said all the students have recovered and that none of them had to be hospitalized. The origin of the disease “has not been determined,” he said.
The school said for privacy reasons that it would not disclose if the 19 were undergraduate or graduate students or if some or all of them were foreign students.
Municipal health officer Jeffrey C. Grosser said Wednesday that the malady is not “reportable,” meaning there are no requirements for the school to notify health authorities. He learned of the outbreak this week, and said he planned to speak with the school Wednesday.
The state Department of Health said Wednesday that it was aware of the situation, and that Mr. Grosser’s office “is working with the university.”
Symptoms of the disease include fever, mouth sores and skin rash, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Close personal contact” is among the ways the disease is transmitted, the agency said on its website.
Though most common in children, it can infect adults too, the government said.
