70 stricken with gastrointestinal illness on month-long cruise to Los Angeles
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The passengers experienced diarrhoea and vomiting a few weeks after the ship departed Singapore.
PHOTO: PRINCESS CRUISES
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Seventy people on a Princess Cruises vessel suffered diarrhoea and vomiting, among other symptoms, during a month-long voyage from Singapore to Los Angeles.
Of the 1,822 passengers onboard the Coral Princess, some 55 of them reported being ill.
In a statement on its website, the US’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the cause of the outbreak, which was first reported on Nov 9, was the norovirus.
Another 15 of the 907 crew members on board the ship, which departed on Oct 17, experienced similar symptoms.
On its website, the CDC said the norovirus can spread via contaminated food and can affect people of all ages. Other symptoms include fever, headaches and body aches and severe cases can require hospitalisation.
The virus – dubbed the vomiting bug – typically spreads easily and quickly, and can also be transmitted by contact with an infected person, for instance, sharing utensils with them, said the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) on its website.
“Upon contamination, norovirus can survive on surfaces like tabletops, sinks and cutleries for up to two weeks,” SFA noted.
Some types of food, like shellfish, may contain a high concentration of norovirus. Those who consume such food, especially if it is raw or undercooked, should be careful.
Those infected with the norovirus would typically display symptoms within 12 to 48 hours of contracting the virus, with symptoms generally lasting for one to three days, according to the SFA article.
After leaving Singapore, the Coral Princess made eight stops – in Thailand, Vietnam, China and Japan – by Nov 10, before calling at Hawaii, reported British news outlet Daily Mail.
The ship then arrived in Los Angeles on Nov 17 to drop off the affected passengers and crew, before embarking on a 16-day journey to Fort Lauderdale, Miami, the same afternoon, it added.
The CDC reported that Princess Cruises said it had increased cleaning and disinfection of the ship in response to the outbreak.
The company also said that it collected stool samples from affected passengers and crew members for testing.
CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Programme said it is monitoring the situation remotely, including reviewing the ship’s outbreak response and sanitation procedures.
According to a 2007 article titled Infections In Confined Spaces: Cruise Ships, Military Barracks, And College Dormitories and published in the US National Library of Medicine, the presence of large groups of people in such semi-confined spaces is often accompanied by a higher risk of certain infections. On cruise ships, these are often gastrointestinal infections, the article added.
The outbreak on the Coral Princess is the 11th one involving gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships under the Vessel Sanitation Programme’s jurisdiction in 2024. The CDC programme logged 14 such incidents in 2023.
