200 Sickened On Two Cruise Ships – One Blamed On Norovirus, The Other A Mystery For Now
This may ruin your taste for cruise ships. Two of the luxury vessels recently suffered separate outbreaks, which resulted in 200 people being sickened with bouts of vomiting and diarrhea, CNN reported.
The Centers for Disease Control only know the cause of the outbreak on one of these two cruise ships – the Celebrity Infinity. The ship departed on March 29 with 2,117 people aboard for a 15-day cruise. But for 106 of them, the vacation was less than ideal.
In addition to the vacationers, six of the 964 members of the Infinity’s crew were also sickened. CDC hopped aboard the vessel on Monday to investigate and determined the outbreak was good-old norovirus.
Celebrity Cruises insists only 100 people were sickened and felt better after they were given medicine, the Associated Press added. The ship has been scrubbed and disinfected according to standard policy, and the distressed people tested by the CDC, added Fox5.
The ship is already en route to Fort Lauderdale with new passengers aboard the (hopefully) squeaky clean boat. They may be crossing their fingers during the first leg of their cruise, however: the Infinity had outbreaks in 2006 and 2013 as well.
Meanwhile, a whole other bevy of disappointed cruisers has been sickened by an unknown malady.
It’s a Royal Caribbean ship this time. Legend of the Seas had about 114 vacationers and two crew members have come down with vomiting and diarrhea; there are 1,763 cruisers aboard. A cause hasn’t been determined yet.
The ship hit Columbia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and navigated through the Panama Canal on its 15-day cruise before docking in San Diego, sickened passengers in tow, the AP added. The CDC will do their routine with this ship as well.
Despite the discouraging reality of intestinal distress ruining an exciting and expensive vacation is a bit discouraging for potential cruisers, it’s worth nothing that health officials track norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships, but not on land. Which is why news that 200 people have been sickened with the illness often makes headlines.
The close quarters and propensity for the illness to spread easily from passengers and crew, as they get on board from land, also don’t make it any easier. But it’s not that hard to keep from getting sick: wash your hands and use sanitizer religiously, and don’t use the public restrooms on the ship – go back to your cabin.
[Photo Courtesy YouTube Screengrab]
