A mystery illness at Sullivan Middle School in Lowell, Massachusetts, has sickened about 60 students, sending five to the hospital.
"We have ruled out it was a carbon monoxide problem, we're looking at a possible virus but we have not pinpointed a problem yet," Lowell Fire Chief Jeff Winward said.
Students said their classmates began coming down with symptoms throughout the morning, with many in the seventh-grade wing of the school.
"Stomach hurting, they didn't feel well, dizzy," seventh grader Sincere Silva said.
"She got really dizzy and her head started hurting her – she had a huge headache and she felt like she was going to pass out and she was going to throw up," said 12-year-old Sam Larned.
At 11:30 a.m., the school was evacuated as a precaution.
"Well we were in math class and then all the sudden we went into a soft lockdown and none of us knew what was going on," said 13-year-old Danielle Larned.
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"We actually brought a physician on scene to start evaluating these kids to see if there was anything we needed to worry about, the five kids that were transported, we did some follow up with them and there's nothing with their medical treatment at the hospital that causes any alarm," said Tim Regan with Lowell General Hospital.
Jack DaSilva's 10-year-old daughter Chasity was one of the students who became ill.
"She was scared she said that she felt kind of funny and then she seen a lot of other kids that wasn't feeling good either," DaSilva said.
Parents told necn they were concerned but relieved it wasn't worse.
"I was kind of scared, a buddy of mine came by and picked me up told us that the school got moved over here," parent Louis Perez said.
Another parent Elizabeth Sheehy said, "Its a little stressful getting that phone call but they handled it really well."
Thursday night, Lowell Public Schools confirmed school would be in session Friday.
