BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Health temporarily closed a harvesting area near the Chandeleur Islands after 15 people became sick with a norovirus-like illness in New Orleans.

"It's expected, although it could change, it's expected to be closed for a period of 21 days," LDH epidemiologist Theresa Sokol said.

The 15 people got sick between Jan. 15 and 31. Because of this, all oysters harvested since Jan. 10 in Area 3 — located east of Lake Borgne, north of Eloi Bay, and includes Chandeleur Islands and surrounding marshes — have been recalled.

"They consumed raw oysters from several different restaurants in the greater New Orleans area, so different groups reported the illnesses to us," Sokol said.

In Baton Rouge, several restaurants had signs on their doors saying that because of the closure, they were unable to offer oysters at the moment.

Others had signs reminding customers that eating raw oysters has risks. Norovirus spreads from contaminated foods and surfaces and can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea.

"When it comes to cooking, it's also sort of hardy and resistant to hot and cold temperatures, but cooking thoroughly to a temperature of about 145 degrees should kill norovirus," Sokol said.

St. George seafood restaurant Jones Creek Cafe & Oyster Bar CEO George Shaheen Jr. said he's been in the seafood business for nearly 40 years.

"Years ago we got together with the Department of Health and helped put together on each sack, that you get now, and it's been that way for a long time, you get where the oyster came from, the day it was harvested and the area it came from," Shaheen said.

Ironically, Shaheen said the last time they had an issue like this, was another Super Bowl week held in New Orleans — Super Bowl XX between the Chicago Bears and the New England Patriots in 1986.

"We had an issue with it, and it was a similar type of thing and I think it was in the same area," Shaheen said.

The LDH says they've not had an outbreak of norovirus related to oysters in Louisiana for a long time. The health department added that there have also been recent closures in Washington state and British Columbia in Canada.

When asked whether people should be worried about consuming raw oysters this Super Bowl weekend, an LDH spokesperson said they're in constant contact with health officials to ensure Louisiana shellfish are safe to eat.

"It's conducting good surveillance to identify illnesses that might be related to oysters within Louisiana and then working to ensure that those harvest areas are closed and those oysters are recalled," Sokol said.