A mysterious illness strikes again.
Twenty-five patients at Fanny Allen hospital were transferred to the University of Vermont Medical Center on Saturday after staff reported similar strange symptoms to those that plagued the Colchester facility last fall.
Over the past 10 days, 14 staff members have reported feeling faint, dizzy and nauseous. It marks the third time in eight months that staff working at the campus, part of the UVM Medical Center, had reported feeling sick with no clear source.
No patients felt any symptoms and were transferred to Burlington “out of an abundance of caution,” said UVM Medical Center President Steve Leffler. The staff members tested negative for Covid-19 and results from all other tests were “unremarkable,” according to Leffler. The medical center has launched an investigation of the incident, with help from an independent medical consultant and the Vermont Department of Health.
Outpatient appointments, operations, and urgent care will continue at Fanny Allen, but the inpatient rehab floors will remain closed until further notice. There’s “no obvious cause” of the sickness, though Leffer said he did not think it was the same issue that caused similar cases last year.
On Oct. 9, staff described an exhaust-like odor that sent 17 of them to urgent care for nausea and other symptoms. The medical center closed the operating rooms at Fanny Allen for one day, though the air monitors were normal and the fire department called in to respond found “no detectable readings” of carbon monoxide.
In late November, the hospital closed the five operating rooms at the facility after seven staff members reported feeling lightheaded and nauseous. At least four individuals tested positive for low levels of carbon monoxide in their blood. The hospital rescheduled more than 650 surgeries while officials investigated the incident.
Since the incidents, the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration, internal and external air quality consultants, and an outside occupational health expert have investigated. None have identified a source, Leffler said.
Then, the weekend of May 16, two staff members went to Urgent Care, feeling nauseous and light-headed. A dozen more employees fell ill while at work over the course of the following week, according to Leffler.
While investigators assumed that previous staff illness may have been caused by air quality issues, that wasn’t the case here, Leffler said. The affected staff members work on inpatient rehab, a separate floor from the operating rooms. Separate air handling systems serve the two areas, and none of the staff reported a smell, Leffler said. Not all the staff on the rehab floor were affected, he added.
Still, the inpatient rehab will remain closed until the investigation is complete. “As soon as we’re confident that it’s safe, we’ll go back and not one day sooner,” Leffler said.
