So what else is new? It happens all the time. The latest to be hit by this kind of outbreak is a Royal Caribbean cruise ship named Explorer of the Seas. It was on a 10-day trip to the Caribbean. No more. The cruise is over. With about 10 to 20 percent of the passengers ill, the cruise line decided to call it quits.
It's probably thanks again to norovirus, sometimes called the "cruise ship virus." However, that still has to be confirmed. Inspectors from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are presently on board and laboratory tests are being done. I would bet that food has played a role in the spread of this virus, as it usually does.
Incidentally, the Explorer of the Seas scored 98 - pretty close to perfect - on its recent sanitation inspection by the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program.
I just checked back on this blog. It seems that I have posted 28 times on norovirus. About half of the posts dealing directly with outbreaks on cruise ships. So if you want to learn how to avoid it, there's plenty of information.
In the meantime ..To your good health!
UPDATE 1/28/14: I notice a lot of readers are clicking on a much older post "Hundreds Fall in on Cruise Ship." Even though this refers to a similar outbreak on a different ship, much of what it says also applies here.
TSF
3 comments:
A rash of norovirus outbreaks has cruise passengers wondering who's to blame and what they're owed. Cruise Secrets Exposed
Interesting stuff - I hope they had a fully stocked medical cabinet with supplies from LE West or other such companies. Running out of medical supplies on the seas is one of the worst things that can happen on a cruise.
Thank you for sharing this post. It should be a lesson for everyone especially to the responsible shipping company for securing the safety of the passengers.
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