Sun staff writer Robert Mills reports that New Hampshire public-health officials were investigating what caused about 60 Boy Scouts at a local Boy Scout camp, Wah-Tut-Ca Reservation — where several local troops may have been staying — to become ill yesterday.
According to information on the Web site for the Yankee-Clipper Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which local troops are part of, as many as five local troops from Billerica, Dracut, Tewksbury, Westford and Wilmington were scheduled to be at the camp this week.
A man named Kevin who answered a call to the camp referred all questions to Boy Scout executive Randy Larson, who did not return several calls to his cell phone last night.
Greater Lowell District Scout Commissioner Andy LeClaire was at a National Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia last night, and when reached by cell phone said he had not been made aware of the incident in Northwood.
The Associated Press reported that about one-third of the roughly 200 scouts at the camp this week had come down with diarrhea and stomach cramps yesterday, but that they were all feeling better by afternoon.
Officials tested food and water samples to track down the sources of the illness, the AP reported last night.
WMUR-TV reported that officials with the Department of Public Health suspected that a food-borne illness may have been responsible.
Local troops scheduled to be at the camp this week included Troop 30, from Billerica; Troop 83, from Dracut; Troop 47, from Tewksbury; Troop 95, from Westford, and Troop 56, from Wilmington, according to the Yankee-Clipper Council’s Web site.