NEWS: Mystery Source Illness strikes passengers on cruise ship, page 1

posted on Jun, 2 2004 @ 11:35 PM

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Once again a mystery illness strikes passengers and crew of a cruise ship while at sea. Again while at sea passengers and crew members of a pleasure cruise are hit with an illness that seems to come again from an unknown source...

Guardian

Nearly 350 passengers and crew aboard a Princess Cruises ship in southeast Alaska fell ill with a virus this week, cruise line officials said.

As of Wednesday, 308 passengers and 40 crew members aboard the Island Princess complained of Norwalk virus-like symptoms. Altogether, 2,018 passengers and 896 crew members were making the weeklong voyage from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Whittier.

The vessel was in Skagway Wednesday and will probably continue on schedule, said Dean Brown, CEO of Princess Tours Division, which oversees Alaska operations. He said ill passengers and crews were recovering in isolated rooms.

Onboard testing confirmed the presence of the norovirus - which includes Norwalk and Norwalk-like viruses.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

Too many times have we seen this now. Coincidence? It seems that cruise ships are far less habitable for humans these days. or is there something else going on here?

[Edited on 3-6-2004 by Zion Mainframe]

Q

posted on Jun, 3 2004 @ 03:55 AM

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Well...cram several hundred people together in a tin can together for a week, and any opportunistic virus or bacteria is going to see it as a "free host smorgasbord" with plenty of bodies to replicate in. Sure, they basically wash those ships down with clorox, but all it takes is one germ to get on there, and it's all over.

Valhall

posted on Jun, 3 2004 @ 05:10 AM

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Yeah, it's no mystery, cram 1500 people on a continuous floating buffet and SOME ONE is NOT going to wash their hands in between tinkling and grazing...

floating barf-barges as far as I'm concerned.

worldwatcher

posted on Jun, 3 2004 @ 07:53 AM

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the source is bad hygiene and open food buffets, add the closed in environment....that's all it takes for a virus to take over.
Norwalk Virus and stomach flu on cruise ships is nothing new...it's a shame though that better preventive measures haven't been taken yet to avoid more of these outbreaks in the future.

titian

posted on Jun, 3 2004 @ 07:56 AM

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Is it just me or does it seem like this is more prevalent now though? Is it the internet age, post 9-11, or simply higher prevalence? Surely people weren't always practicing the best hygiene prior to 9-11 on these ships.

worldwatcher

posted on Jun, 3 2004 @ 08:07 AM

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Having worked in the cruise line industry, I can assure you that outbreaks of similar type illnesses have been reported since the early 90's to the cruise line directly, mainly in customer complaint letters after the cruise. With more media attention, it would seem that the problem has become bigger.

...but the skeptic in me, also thinks that future cruise discounts given out by the cruiselines to appease upset customers adds to the number of claims being made....but that is just me.