The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention is investigating an outbreak on a luxurious cruise ship after greater than 150 individuals reported signs of gastrointestinal sickness, together with diarrhea and vomiting.
The ship, the Queen Victoria, operated by Cunard Line, departed Southampton, England, on Jan. 11 on a 107-night cruise that included latest stops in Florida and San Francisco, according to the company’s website. The ship is scheduled to reach in Honolulu on Monday.
The C.D.C. said that, as of Thursday, 129 passengers and 25 crew members had reported being unwell on the ship. The company mentioned 1,824 passengers and 967 crew members have been aboard on the time of the outbreak.
The reason for the sicknesses was unknown, the company mentioned.
In a press release, Cunard Line, which is predicated in Southampton, mentioned that “plenty of company had reported signs of gastrointestinal sickness” on the ship, which arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday after stops in Mexico, Guatemala, Panama and Aruba.
The cruise line “instantly activated their enhanced well being and security protocols to make sure the properly being of all company and crew on board and these measures have been efficient,” the corporate mentioned.
In response to the outbreak, the crew of the Queen Victoria have “elevated cleansing and disinfection procedures” and have “remoted unwell passengers and crew,” the C.D.C. mentioned.
The company mentioned that it was remotely monitoring the scenario, together with “reviewing the ship’s outbreak response and sanitation procedures.”
The ship left San Francisco for Honolulu on Wednesday and was touring off the west coast of the USA on Thursday, according to the ship-tracking website Cruise Mapper.
After it arrives in Hawaii on Monday, the ship’s scheduled stops embrace Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.
Although intestinal sickness can unfold rapidly on cruise ships, outbreaks are rare, according to the C.D.C.
One high-profile outbreak came about in 2014, when 595 passengers and 50 crew members aboard Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas fell ill with bouts of vomiting and diarrhea, forcing the ship to return early to New Jersey.
Acute gastrointestinal sicknesses, together with the extremely contagious norovirus, are related to cruise ships as a result of shut quarters amongst passengers and crew members improve the quantity of group contact, the company mentioned.
People who find themselves contaminated once they board the ship might unfold viruses to different passengers and crew.
Public well being officers observe sicknesses on cruise ships so “outbreaks are discovered and reported extra rapidly on a cruise ship than on land,” the C.D.C. mentioned.