Over 140 people aboard a cruise ship have grown ill from an outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness during a 3-week cruise that began on January 22, ABC News reported.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, so far, 128 passengers and 25 crew members have taken ill aboard the Cunard Cruise Line ship Queen Victoria which departed Fort Lauderdale on January 22 for a cruise bound for Honolulu on February 12.
The CDC’s reported numbers reflect the total number of people reported ill, not the total number of active cases.
The cause of the outbreak, the symptoms of which include vomiting and diarrhea, has not yet been determined. The crew aboard the cruise ship isolated the sick passengers and crew to prevent the spread and implemented the ship’s outbreak response plan by increasing disinfecting and cleaning procedures, according to the CDC.
In a statement in late January, Cunard Cruise Line confirmed that some passengers reported gastrointestinal symptoms aboard the ship, and the crew “immediately activated their enhanced health and safety protocols.”
According to Cunard, the protocols have been “effective.”
Queen Victoria is scheduled to stop in San Francisco before arriving in Honolulu on February 12.
The CDC said its Vessel Sanitation Program would remotely monitor the situation aboard Queen Victoria and review the cruise ship’s outbreak response protocols and cleaning and disinfecting procedures.
This is the second outbreak aboard a cruise ship the CDC reported this year.
In January, 92 passengers and eight crew members aboard the Celebrity Cruise Line’s Celebrity Constellation reported suffering from diarrhea and vomiting. The CDC determined that the cause of the illness was norovirus.
Of the fourteen outbreaks reported on cruise ships last year, most were caused by norovirus.
Medical staff aboard US cruise ships are required to report to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program any gastrointestinal illness that affects at least 2 percent of the people on board.
