Over 120 college students have now fallen ill due to an outbreak linked to a Chipotle restaurant in Boston.
Local health officials have confirmed that the infection affecting the students was caused by the norovirus, Bloomberg reported.
According to the Centers for Disease, this is a highly contagious virus that can induce vomiting and diarrhea. It commonly spreads through contaminated food and is responsible for yearly outbreaks in the U.S. that affect an average of 20 million people.
In the case regarding Chipotle, majority of the infected students admitted that they had eaten at the restaurant's branch in Boston's Cleveland Circle. Last week, the number of infected students was at 80. The establishment closed earlier this week as investigations regarding the outbreak continue.
Chris Arnold, the spokesperson for Chipotle, confirmed that preliminary investigations revealed that the norovirus caused the outbreak.
"The health department in Boston confirmed that norovirus was the cause of this incident (which was the speculation very early on), and that cases tied to us all occurred at a single location in Boston," he told USA Today.
"The restaurant is closed and it will likely remain closed for a couple of days while we do a full sanitization on the restaurant, and while all employees of that restaurant are tested for norovirus," he added.
Arnold then went on to say that following the incident, Chipotle has implemented new guidelines and procedures in ensuring the quality of its products and ingredients.
The Boston outbreak is the latest health-related crisis to hit the popular Mexican food restaurant chain. In August of this year, cases of norovirus and salmonella infections were reported in Chipotle branches in California and Minnesota. The incident affected more than 140 customers and several employees.
Although there were no reported deaths, some of those who got infected were hospitalized.
Then, from October to November, the restaurant chain was tied again to another outbreak that occurred in California, Ohio, Maryland, Illinois and Washington. According to health officials, six cases of e. coli were reported in the various states. Five of those who got infected said that they ate at Chipotle branches.
Benjamin Chapman, an expert on restaurant food safety and a professor at North Carolina State University, warned that the number of norovirus cases could increase within the next few weeks.
"This is the height of norovirus season," he said according to the Wall Street Journal. "It does well in the winter. Between now and March, we'll probably see an outbreak per week linked to a restaurant, a college or a hospital."
