Talk about sea sickness! More than 150 passengers and crew have fell ill while on those much sought after cruises. Far from just hitting one boat, the illness struck across three cruise ships.
More than 150 passengers and also crew members across the three cruise ships developed gastrointestinal illness. It's likely that the norovirus was to blame. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 64 people reportedly fell ill during a voyage on the Holland America Line's Eurodam ship. Additionally, several dozen crew members also got sick.
Though it's a small fraction of the 2,038 guests on board, it's still alarming. Symptoms included vomiting, diarrhea, and bad stomach cramps. This happened in early April. Holland America spoke out about the cruise ship illness, saying it was "mostly mild and quickly resolved."
Cruise Ship Stomach Bug
"We initiated enhanced sanitation protocols in conjunction with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to minimize further transmission, including continuous disinfection of the ship," the cruise line said in an emailed statement.
Meanwhile, the CDC listed how the crew handled battling the illness on the cruise ship.
- Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan
- Collected stool specimens from gastrointestinal illness cases for testing
- Isolated ill passengers and crew
- Consulted with VSP about sanitation cleaning procedures and reporting ill cases
Outside of this cruise ship, 55 passengers got sick on the cruise ship line's Zuiderdam ship. 14 crew members also fell ill as well. Additionally, Lindblad Expeditions' National Geographic Sea Lion ship saw three people develop the stomach bug.
As the CDC explains, "Gastrointestinal (GI) illness is a commonly used term for acute gastroenteritis (AGE). Reporting gastrointestinal illness is important. When passengers and crew tell the medical center onboard about their symptoms, it helps GI illness outbreaks get detected quickly. This allows steps to be taken to limit the spread of illness."
Norovirus is often the culprit for many stomach bugs, especially on cruise ships.
"While the number of recent cruise ship outbreaks has been higher than in years prior to the pandemic, we do not yet know if this represents a new trend," the health agency told USA TODAY. "However, CDC data show a newly dominant strain is currently associated with reported norovirus outbreaks on land. Ships typically follow the pattern of land-based outbreaks, which are higher this norovirus season."
