Matheson Reading Room at Emory University. Source: Wikimedia commons

Emory University reports that more than 74 of its students came down with a case of gastroenteritis, or in layman’s terms, a stomach bug.

Students checked in with Student Health Services or the hospital emergency room with symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea. The cases started adding up late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Emory spokesperson Beverly Cox Clark told Decaturish that the illness appears to have tapered off. There have been only seven new cases reported as of Friday morning, she said.

School staff are trying to pinpoint exactly how the students became ill. The Emory Wheel student newspaper investigated the illnesses and found a common thread: many of the students had recently eaten at the campus dining hall, known as the Dobbs Market.

Director of Student Health Services Dr. Michael Huey sent an email to students on Thursday evening advising students to take precautions. He said that all leftover food served on Tuesday at the dining hall has been “isolated and retained for analysis.” The DeKalb County Health Department visited the dining hall after the incident but didn’t find anything out of sorts.

“Stool cultures from several ill students have been sent to the State of Georgia Laboratory and results are pending,” Huey said in the email.