Report: Cruise ship illness tripled

Gastrointestinal virus reports climbed from seven in 2001 to 21 in 2002, says the Centers for Disease Control.

By CANDACE RONDEAUX, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 13, 2002

Outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships tripled in 2002, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cruise ships traveling from the United States reported 21 outbreaks of gastrointestinal viruses between January and this month. Seven outbreaks were reported between January 2001 and December 2001, according to the report released Thursday.

The majority of the outbreaks in both years were attributed to highly contagious viruses, similar to the Norwalk virus, which thrives in close environments such as cruise ships, CDC officials said.

There may be more than one explanation for the spike in outbreaks, said Elaine Cramer, a CDC vessel sanitation program epidemiologist. She said heightened awareness of virus symptoms on board cruise ships and improvements in surveillance techniques could have contributed to the increase in reported outbreaks.

"Prior to 2001, we had a narrower definition of the symptoms in an outbreak. We limited our definition to diarrhea. But we discovered that certainly there were a great number of passengers who experience vomiting as well as diarrhea," Cramer said.

Cramer and other CDC officials said passengers, not food or water, were the likely culprit in many of the outbreaks. Many passengers may have been sick before boarding the cruise ships but didn't want to miss out on their vacation or be confined to their cabins, Cramer said.

The CDC report was released just days after another outbreak of a Norwalk-like virus was reported on a British cruise ship traveling the Caribbean. The United Kingdom-based P & O Cruises reported that nearly 270 passengers and 24 crew members on a two-week cruise on board the Oceana fell ill, CDC officials said.

The Oceana, which departed Nov. 29 from Fort Lauderdale, bypassed a scheduled stop Wednesday in St. Maartin's after port authorities there questioned ship officials closely about the outbreak. P & O Cruises spokeswoman Bronwen Griffiths denied a rumor that St. Maartin's government officials barred entry to the island's port because they were fearful of contamination.

"After port officials finished with their lengthy questioning, it was decided that arranging for passengers to launch at that port would not have allowed holidaymakers any time to enjoy the port of call," Griffiths said.

Griffiths said the Oceana will be withdrawn from service for cleaning for 24 hours after passengers disembark at Fort Lauderdale this morning.

The American-owned Disney Magic cruise ship reported that 25 out of 2,153 passengers complained of Norwalk-like symptoms as of Dec. 11. The Disney ship was out of service for cleaning for a week and returned to service on Dec. 7 after more than 200 passengers on a recent voyage reported virus symptoms at the ship's infirmary.

Dave Forney, CDC vessel sanitation program chief, said Magic officials are sending reports to his agency daily. He added that the relatively small number of passengers affected so far on the Magic's latest trip was normal for a one- or two-week voyage and did not qualify as an outbreak.

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