It’s a new kind of virus for Sun Microsystems.
At the company’s JavaOne conference this week in San Francisco, more than 50 people came down with what officials believe is norovirus, a type of medical virus easily spread by touching dirty surfaces.
The city’s Department of Public Health started receiving reports on Wednesday and on Thursday and today warned people who believed they had been infected to stay home.
Shawn Dainas, a spokesman for Santa Clara-based Sun Microsystems, which makes servers and software and is used to protecting against viruses of the digital variety, said the company also alerted attendees about the illness by e-mail. The conference was not canceled.
Norovirus causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and lasts 24 to 48 hours.
About 50 to 60 people came down with symptoms; no one was hospitalized, said Jim Soos, the health department’s assistant director of public policy and planning.
Soos said workers at the Moscone Center, where the weeklong conference was being held, were disinfecting surfaces including food preparation tables, escalator handrails, desks and bathrooms to reduce the risk of the virus spreading further. It was unclear where the virus started.
“We’re saying that healthy people should be careful, wash their hands a lot, kind of the standard public health practices,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Moscone Center did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The conference was winding down this afternoon.
