More than 230 passengers and crew members have been struck by the norovirus outbreak on a luxurious 29-day round-trip cruise from the UK to the East Caribbean, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the cruise mapper at the chase, Queen Mary 2, the Cunard Line flagship Mary Liner, left Southampton, England on March 8th. The outbreak was reported on March 18, the CDC said after the ship was stopped in New York City. Passengers and crew members had reported symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting, the agency said.
The CDC said the outbreak spread to 224 passengers and 17 crew members out of the 2,538 people on board. The ship said it had isolated them and disinfected them.
In addition to New York, the ships stopped at St. Martin, St. Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, Dominica, St. Kitts and Tortola. On Tuesday, Queen Mary, or QM2, was traveling through the Atlantic on her way back to Southampton. It was scheduled to arrive there on April 6th.
In a statement Tuesday, Canard said guests were being closely monitored and the ship was being thoroughly cleaned. “The rapid response from the crew and the additional measures we are implementing have already reduced the number of reported cases,” the statement said.
The ship, launched in 2004, is 1,132 feet long, one of the world's largest ocean liners. In 2013, Times Reporter explained the voyage to QM2, including departure delays caused by “close-range level” eradication projects after the norovirus became ill.
Norovirus, a gastrointestinal disease, thrives in closed areas such as health care facilities, dormitories and cruise ships where people travel and work in close quarters. The disease can infect up to 21 million Americans a year, according to the CDC, by spreading through contact or contaminated food or water. There is no treatment and most people recover within a few days.
Cruise ships must report to the CDC when an outbreak occurs. This refers to the total number of people who have become ill during the voyage, not the number of people who are sick at the same time.
The CDC reports other cases of norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships. 12 and 22 crew members of the Seaborne Encore Cruise, 461 passengers, both fell ill on the voyage that left Japan on March 16, and said they were due to docking to the US on April 9.
Last month, the Dutch-American ship reported an outbreak of norovirus affecting 89 of its 2,670 passengers and four crew members during a nine-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to the Southern Caribbean.
