Norovirus on Cruise Ship Sickens 134

An outbreak of Norovirus among passengers and crew of a Princess Cruises ship has sickened 134 people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  To date, CDC is reporting 11 illnesses among the 151 crew members of the Dawn Princess and 114 illnesses among the 1,778 passengers.  Symptoms included vomiting and diarrhea. Crew aboard the vessel, which is on a 22-day voyage that started August 21 and ends September 13, have taken precautions to sanitize the ship and have notified passengers of the outbreak, encouraging them to report any illnesses and use good hand hygiene to avoid the spread of illness.   The Australia-based ship is currently traveling along the Alaskan coast. It was scheduled to arrive in Juneau on Friday, at which point CDC said that two of its Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers would be boarding the ship to conduct an investigation and collect stool samples (which were taken from patients during illness) to be sent to the CDC lab for analysis. The agency has not yet reported on the results of this boarding.  In February of this year, three Norovirus outbreaks occurred on Princess Cruises' vessels. Early that month, more than 300 passengers were sickened on the Crown Princess's voyage to the southern Caribbean. That same week, 100 passengers aboard the Ruby Princess traveling the eastern Carribean fell ill with Norovirus infections.  On the next voyage of the Crown Princess, 374 passengers and 32 crew members suffered from Norovirus illnesses.  © Food Safety News More Headlines from Foodborne Illness Outbreaks »