The disease that sickened more than 200 people who attended a cheerleading competition at Comcast Arena recently is norovirus, sometimes called cruise ship disease, health officials say.

And they think they’ve tracked down how the disease spread. Teens became ill with a stomach virus while at the event, said Suzanne Pate, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish Health District.

Janitorial crews were called to clean up the floors of a restroom and adjacent concourse before the awards ceremony Feb. 4, she said. The event was a competition among cheerleading and dance teams from across the state.

“Those surfaces where there was illness were contaminated,” Pate said. People could have been infected as they walked through the restroom and concourse areas if they didn’t carefully wash their hands, she said.

Read more at source: Herald.Net