healthmedicinet

KINGSTON, Jamaica – U.S. health
officials on Sunday boarded a cruise
ship docked in the U.S. Virgin Islands to investigate an illness outbreak that has stricken at least 300 people with gastrointestinal symptoms including
vomiting and diarrhea.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention has said that 281, or nearly 10 percent, of the 3,050 passengers
aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Explorer of the Seas have reported
getting sick during a Caribbean cruise
that left Cape Liberty, N.J., on Tuesday. Twenty-two crew members also
reported feeling ill.

Company spokeswoman Janet Diaz said
CDC representatives boarded the towering, 15-deck ship on Sunday afternoon as
it made a port call in St. Thomas, the main island of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

At least two CDC officials – an
epidemiologist and an environmental health officer – were expected to do the
investigation and evaluate the outbreak response on the cruise liner. The U.S. health agency did not
immediately respond to a Sunday email and a call seeking comment about the work
aboard the ship.

During the previous port call in
Puerto Rico, the ship underwent “extensive and thorough sanitizing”
to help prevent more people from getting sick, said the Royal Caribbean
spokeswoman. It bypassed a scheduled stop to the company’s fenced-in beach
destination in northern Haiti to sail directly to Puerto Rico’s capital.

“This was a difficult decision to
make; however, we feel it is best to make this itinerary modification to help
prevent any more guests from becoming ill,” Diaz said.

Meanwhile, the passengers and crew who
fell ill have “responded well to over-the-counter medication being
administered onboard the ship,” she said.

Fast-spreading norovirus is often to
blame for similar symptoms sweeping closed quarters like those on cruise ships, but a determination will likely
have to wait until samples are tested in a lab. Symptoms of norovirus include
vomiting and diarrhea, which is what the Explorer of the Seas passengers and
crew have reported. Diaz said special cleaning products and disinfectants that
are proven to kill norovirus are being used to clean the ship.

In a Sunday statement, Beverly
Nicholson-Doty, the U.S. Virgin Islands’ tourism commissioner, said the
territory was grateful for the CDC’s “quick response” and St. Thomas
was ready to welcome ship passengers cleared to disembark.

On Friday, an Explorer of the Seas
passenger named Arnee Dodd tweeted that she had fallen ill aboard the ship and
was quarantined with the other sick people. The Connecticut woman wrote that
ship employees “put a lock down on food are constantly cleaning
everything.”

It was not immediately clear how many
passengers, if any, were still being quarantined on Sunday. The ship’s next
scheduled stop is the Dutch Caribbean country of St. Maarten.