Around 140 Students were absent from Condon Elementary school in South Boston as the Norovirus, a highly contagious gastrointestinal disease, spreads throughout the students and facility.

Robby Chisholm, the principal of Condon Elementary, released an automated phone call to parents of students tuesday night informing them of the spread of the illness.

“We believe this is norovirus – which is a highly contagious stomach virus with symptoms that include diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pain that last, on average 1-2 days,” stated Chisholm in the automated call.

The Norovirus is one of the most common stomach viruses, with approximately 21 million cases of the virus a year, but fortunately only causing around 800 deaths in the United States a year. Even though the disease is extremely common, immunity is extremely rare, with those coming off the disease having an immunity of only six months to two years.

With the highly contagious nature of the disease, Condon Elementary is taking steps to prevent the disease.

“We have taken steps to sanitize equipment, have added extra soap and more hand sanitizer, and tomorrow we will send flyers home with additional information on what norovirus is and how we are preventing further spread,” Chisholm said in the message,“Our school nursing department is also sending extra support.”

While also following those procedures, school had teams fully sanitize the building tuesday night to prevent further spread. Debbie Schaier, Holyoke High School’s local nurse, advises to practice health precautions in the upcoming weeks due to an increase in travel for the holidays, leading to an increased risk of not only the Norovirus, but the seasonal flu as well.