Hundreds of students complaining of similar symptoms reportedly filled Student Health Services this weekend, and several were even hospitalized, after many said they ate at The Towers Dining Hall Friday and Saturday.

The sicknesses mainly affected Towers residents, and large portions of many floors came down with the illness over the weekend, students said.

Towers Dining Hall and BU Dining Services officials declined to comment on the matter.

Numerous students said they had similar symptoms, including intense vomiting, fever, body aches and high to extreme dehydration. Tim Daly, a freshman in the College of Communication, said he believes 200 or more students were sick and at least four were hospitalized because of their illnesses, after Student Health Services officials told him similar information.

Daly said he began to feel sick Saturday and went to Student Health Services. When Daly talked to a doctor about his symptoms, the doctor decided his case was so extreme that hospitalization was necessary. An ambulance was called and Daly was taken to Boston Medical Institute where he was diagnosed with ‘viral gastroenteritis.’

Daly said he believes his virus was contracted through cross-contamination.

‘It has to be something like that,’ Daly said. ‘It hit so many people so fast.’

Dianna Lawrence, a freshman in the College of General Studies who lives on the fifth floor of The Towers’ West Tower, said many girls on her floor, including her roommate, got sick after eating in the dining hall over the weekend. Lawrence said she is ‘unsure of what happened’ because the illness seemed to spread among floors.

‘Saturday morning, the first girl on my floor started feeling sick, and throughout the day my roommate and others also started to feel sick,’ she said. ‘By dinnertime Saturday night, at least three girls on my floor were constantly in the bathroom.’

But Lawrence said she ate at the dining hall Friday night and did not become sick. She also said each of the girls had eaten different things at the dining hall, making a connection hard to find.

Sarah Spencer, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, also got sick his weekend, but said she thinks it was not from eating at The Towers Dining Hall.

‘I got sick Sunday morning after taking care of my friends Saturday night,’ Spencer said.

Spencer said three girls on her floor were sick all day Saturday, and she and another girl came down with the same symptoms Sunday after taking care of their friends.

Spencer said she was so sick she went to Student Health Services. There, they told here she ‘did not have food poisoning’ and ‘numerous students got sick but there was no ‘common denominator’ because most of the students had eaten different things.’

Though the bulk of sick students came from The Towers, there were many other sick students who had eaten in different dining halls Friday night, Spencer said she had heard.

Spencer said she believes she would have been notified by Dining Services had the cause of the illnesses been food poisoning, though Daly said Student Health Services continues to contact him with questions pertaining to what he has eaten the last few days.

Though many of the affected students said they are feeling better, those who did get sick said they are still wary about eating.

But Lawrence said she will continue to eat in The Towers dining hall because she learned a long time ago to be careful when choosing what to eat.

‘I’ve always been skeptical because I’ve found undercooked meat, mold on the bread and bugs in my vegetables before,’ she said. ‘Now especially I look extra hard at the food before eating it.

‘It’s just not worth it to eat food that looks sketchy I’d rather have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and stay healthy,’ she said.