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Show Half of Town Made III By an 'Airborne Virus' MERCERSBURG, Pa. More than half of the 2,300 people In this small community were made 111 recently by an "airborne virus." Dr. Louis Hitchcroth, member of the borough's board of health, said the symptoms of the Illness were nausea, vomiting, severe pain In the abdominal region and diarrhea. The attack started on a Tuesday night In the ensuing hours 1,100 citizens, including 135 students enrolled en-rolled at the Mercersburg Academy became infected. There were isolated cases In farm areas, cases in the public schools and elsewhere. For that reason. Dr. Hitchcroth said, the board of health ruled out the possibility of water acting as a carrier of the Illness since not all of the people used the same water. Dr. Hitchcroth said a possible explanation ex-planation might be that the virus was blown into the area by air movements. He estimated that more than half of the Franklin county community had been affected. af-fected. Many persons recovered without medical attention. |