DENVER -- Dozens of University of Denver freshmen living and eating in the Centennial Halls dorms have gone to the hospital or the university's health and counseling center since Sunday morning, reporting symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, low-grade fever, and cramps.

So far, 42 students have reported the sickness, many linking it to the cafeteria inside Centennial Halls, but university health officials said they have no idea what's causing the outbreak.

"Right now, the health department is still investigating," said Dr. Sam Alexander, executive director of the university's health and counseling center. "They will be investigating for at least the rest of the week. There will be someone on site here."

He said it is not unusual for viruses and bacteria to spread quickly in a communal living environment and that they have found no direct link between the sickness and the food.

"Right now, it's felt to be perfectly safe to eat in the cafeteria, which I did about an hour ago. It's felt to be safe to live in Centennial Halls," said Alexander.

DU freshman Sam Chapman is still recovering from the sickness.

"I had to go to the pharmacy and get some Pepto Bismol," said Chapman. "Long and short of it was I just sort of got sick, as you probably guessed. The gory details you probably wouldn't want to hear."

He doesn't blame the cafeteria, though.

"If you ask me, I think it was something that came in from the outside," he said.

But until the mystery is solved, a lot of students say they won't take any chances.

"If you hear you're probably going to get food poisoning, you're not going to go back," said Rori Barnes, a DU freshman.

Denver Public Health is testing stool samples from the sick students to determine if the outbreak's cause is a virus or bacteria, Alexander said, and those results should be back in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, health officials are encouraging students to properly wash their hands before they eat and not to share drinks.

Alexander said the good news is that the outbreak seems to be winding down as of Tuesday, with the number of cases coming in drastically declining.