Health officials investigating over 100 UC students hit by sickness bug in exam period

Monday, 4 November 2024

University Hall at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch has had an outbreak of food poisoning. High numbers of students in the hall have been ill since last night.

National health officials are being brought in to determine the cause of mass diarrhoea and vomiting sickness at two University of Canterbury (UC) student residences that has left over 100 students sick.

Possibly hundreds of UC students have fallen ill in the thick of exam time following an outbreak suspected to have been caused by a build-your-own chicken souvlaki at a student dining hall.

Students at both University Hall and Ilam Student Accommodation, both run by UniLodge, have been affected.

The university is in the middle of end-of-year examinations, which started last Tuesday and end on Saturday.

There were more than 30 exams scheduled during the day.

UC student Harry Browne said most of his friends got the chicken as it looked like the better option. He woke up at 5.45am on Monday morning with “terrible diarrhoea and vomiting”.

“Students missed exams due to this and many are struggling to get medical exemptions. One student spent over an hour of his exam stuck in the toilet,” he said.

Students say staff are calling the sickness a “tummy bug”.

“This widespread food poisoning is terrible and has caused students worlds of hurt and unneeded stress.”

University Hall, a fully catered student residence facility with about 561 students providing breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ilam Student Accommodation is an apartment-style complex for about 850 residents

Students were reportedly running out of exams on Monday needing to use the bathroom, sick with vomiting and diarrhoea.

Ministry of Primary Industries’ New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general, Vincent Arbuckle, said they were looking into the outbreak with Health NZ.

“As part of this we are working to establish the cause of the outbreak, including possible food and non-food sources.”

Are you affected? Contact reporters@press.co.nz.

A University Hall commerce student said some symptoms had lessened throughout the day, but “the stomach pain has just been constant”.

“Obviously it’s not great, I’ve got three exams in the next three days and I haven’t been able to study, which has been a bugger.

The student planned to apply for special consideration - if approved he could sit his exams at a later date, or receive an aegrotat grade.

Plum Olsen and Lincoln Christensen stand outside University Hall after ordering Uber Eats. The couple have both been very sick after eating last nights dinner. Olsen said she only had about an hours sleep after having vomiting and diarrhea.

Another student, who was up from 4am with a painful stomach ache and “restless bathroom journeys”, said “a lot” of students in her hall had got some sort of stomach bug which most believe to be food poisoning after eating a type of chicken wrap meal for dinner on Sunday night.

“We haven’t been told exactly what the problem is but … the hall think it’s gastro which a few of us think is silly as the majority of students who ate the chicken wrap are the ones sick.”

Plum Olsen and her boyfriend Lincoln Christensen both ate the chicken meal and said hadn’t slept at all.

“I’ve been shitting myself for ten hours,” Olsen said.

Christensen was worried about being well enough for his exam on Tuesday.

O’Flaherty said over 100 students were estimated to be sick.

He said the university is investigating the cause of the illness, helped by the Te Whatu Ora Health NZ, which will visit the hall to test a small sample of students.

In an email sent to University Hall students around 3pm, seen by The Press, UniLodge management said students became unwell overnight at both halls.

There has been an outbreak of a sickness bug at the University of Canterbury.

“We understand this may be concerning for some and the National Public Health Service is currently working with us to investigate the cause of the illness,” it said.

“The main symptom is diarrhoea (runny poo) and most of the students are recovering well today.”

Students were encouraged to keep their fluids up, helped by electrolyte mixes and bottled water provided by the hall, and to call the UniLodge hotline or Healthline if more medical treatment was needed.

Another student who had an exam at 2.30pm on Monday said he was going to push through, as it was online. But he had heard of people who were sick and had exams at 9.30am on Monday.

“All the toilets were pretty much booked up this morning when I got up,” one said.