Tag Archives: Cruise

Norovirus season appears to be here

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I’ve always loved the UK term for norovirus: winter vomiting virus. It’s so perfect and descriptive. Norovirus is great, but it doesn’t have the same ring to it.  Seeing that it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere, parts of Canada and the US are burried under snow and ice, it’s about time for the increase of norovirus stories we seem to have every year. 

This week we’ve seen stories on the classic norovirus scenarios: cruise ships and university settings.

It was reported that Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America ship was the site of an outbreak with 67 passengers and 14 crew members becoming ill.  In some fantastic writing on santacruz.com, staff writer Curtis Cartier reported on an outbreak of noro amongst 58 staff at students at UC Santa Cruz.  Carteir writes: 

Some students, like Zack Mikalonis, initially suspected nasty meatball subs as the culprit.
On the afternoon of Jan. 15, Mikalonis ate at UCSC’s Porter Dining Hall. Though he says he’s learned to steer clear of burritos, sub sandwiches are fair game. But less than 24 hours after chowing down on the hero, he found himself face down in a toilet bowl.
“I woke up around 4:30am throwing up and having horrible diarrhea,” he says. “A bunch of other kids on my floor got sick too. I had a big quiz the next day that I had to miss.”
 

This week’s food safety infosheet is all about noro.

A couple of months ago Mayra and I came up with our take on cleaning up potentially noro-laced vomit if it hits your locale.

Norovirus strikes Wisconsin residence, cruise ship … me?

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I don’t know what I have (right, exactly as shown), but can sympathize with the people quoted below.

University of Wisconsin freshman Ibrahim Balkhy contracted norovirus Sunday morning, saying,

“There was lots of puking and diarrhea — it was hell. All I have eaten are saltines.”

Between 20 and 30 residents of Sellery 6A, one of UW’s largest residence halls, have been fighting the virus since Thursday.

Craig Roberts, an epidemiologist for University Health Services, said the norovirus spreads through stool-to-mouth contact. It enters through the mouth and is passed via the stool or vomit of an infected person.

So don’t eat poop.

Meanwhile, 260 passengers and 17 crew members on board the Holland America Line M.S. Zuiderdam, have come down with norovirus

Brampton, Ontario, resident Ken Ould, 78, said that five days into his transatlantic cruise, the projectile vomiting and diarrhea started.

By the time he and the other 1,819 passengers and 794 crew disembarked in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, he had missed three ports of call, and spent five days confined to his cabin with his wife Joyce.

Now, if you’ll excuse me …

Fewer cruise ship norovirus outbreaks in 2007

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The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that cruise passengers got a break last year, as serious cases of gastrointestinal illness at sea fell sharply after setting a record in 2006.

Last year, there were 16 confirmed outbreaks of norovirus on ships monitored by the CDC, down from 29 outbreaks the year before.

Federal ship regulators say cruise lines have become the model for fighting outbreaks of norovirus, which spreads easily and causes flu-like symptoms for 48 to 72 hours.

Capt. Jaret Ames, head of the vessel sanitation program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, said,

"They’re much better at it today than they were in 2002."

Last year, 12.6 million people took a cruise worldwide. The cruise Web site cruisejunkie.com calculates that at least 4,159 passengers fell ill with norovirus.

Steps to avoid norovirus on a cruise:

Don’t touch door handles, handrails or other communal surfaces and then touch your mouth or nose. Wash your hands often.

Make use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, especially in food-service areas.

Before booking a cruise, compare health inspection reports of vessels and cruise lines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site — http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/pub/CruisingTips/cruisingtips.htm — provides inspection scores. Any score below 85 is considered unsatisfactory.

Preventative handwashing limits pissed off passengers

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The Evening Standard reports that 78 passengers have been stricken with norovirus and confined to their cabins on what has been dubbed The ‘Curse of Camilla’ cruise ship  on only its second cruise.
The passengers, including former Formula 1 motor-racing champion Sir Jackie Stewart, dubbed the Canary Islands trip the "cruise from hell" after complaining about poor room service, blocked toilets, a lack of Christmas decorations, cold food and extra charges for tea and coffee. They complained hygiene standards were "appalling" and that the outbreak was connected to poor food handling.

Passengers said it was only after the virus struck that Cunard provided alcohol-based hand gel to combat its spread – by which time it was too late.

Jean Trainor, 49, from Blackburn, Lancashire, said,

"No hygiene rules were implemented until people fell ill. If they had been, maybe this could have been avoided. There has also been problems with lavatories not flushing. Everyone I’ve spoken to is pissed off, including the crew because they’re having to put up with all the guests moaning. I resent having paid £7,500 to be on this cruise. I’ll never sail on the Queen Vic again."

Ron Wade, 71, from South Lanarkshire, said,

"I was very surprised that nobody was being told that they must wash their hands in antiseptic lotion as a matter of course. Since people became ill, we have all been advised not to use the public loos to stop the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, some of the loos in our cabins have been blocked."

The Evening Standard says that when Cunard’s £300million MS Queen Victoria luxury liner was officially launched by Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall in Southampton three weeks ago, the bottle of champagne failed to smash against the bow, prompting superstitious speculation that the ship was cursed.

Maybe. Or maybe cruise ships and their staff need to go out of their way to encourage handwashing and hygiene. And proper handwashing requires access to proper tools; before the outbreak happens.