The number of gastrointestinal illness (GI) outbreaks, including norovirus and enterotoxigenic E. coli, on cruise ships fell to the lowest level in 14 years in 2014.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) website contains detailed reports about the outbreaks on cruise ships from 1994 to 2015. The CDC considers it an outbreak anytime 3% or more of the passengers and crew members report diarrheal symptoms onboard a vessel of at least 100 passengers on sailings that are 3 days or longer.

There were nine reported outbreaks of GI on 7 different cruise ships in 2014, tying 2013 with the lowest number of outbreaks since 2001. When you take into consideration that the number of cruise ships is at a record high, this past year saw the lowest percentage of outbreaks on cruise ships since 2001.