By Jamie Burch
.
Published: Mon, January 28, 2008 - 1:12 pm
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking into an outbreak blamed for making 143 people sick Carnival Cruise Lines' "Holiday."The ship returned to port this morning, after a 4-day cruise to Cozumel.
According to Matt Albright with the CDC, 121 passengers and 22 crew members on-board the ship got sick with gastro-intestinal illnesses. The symptoms include sudden nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The CDC is analyzing lab specimens to determine what may have caused the illnesses. They have not confirmed whether it is the Norwalk Virus as News 5 first reported Monday.
The CDC is trying to determine whether it will conduct an outbreak investigation. Outbreak investigations, which involve inspecting the ship, looking at things like how the food is stored to the cleanliness of restrooms, are normal in these types of cases.
On Monday, Albright told News 5 that the CDC only has 9 people to investigate these cases and that there have been 15 other outbreaks nationwide since January 1st. On Tuesday, the CDC's Lisa Beaumier said those numbers are not correct. Beaumier said there have only been 5 other similar outbreaks and she insists the agency is not swamped.
This is not the first time "Holiday" passengers have gotten sick. In December of 2003, 120 passengers and crew members contracted the Norwalk Virus during a 5-day cruise to Playa Del Carmen and Cozumel.
Despite the latest outbreak, the manager of Mobile's Cruise Terminal told News 5 that the "Holiday" is leaving this afternoon on another cruise. We'll have much more on this story, including an interview with a passenger who says she got deathly ill, tonight on News 5 at 6:00.
Statement from Carnival Cruise Line
During the previous voyage of the cruise ship Holiday, a four-day cruise, which departed from Mobile, Ala., on Jan. 24 and returned to Mobile this morning, a number of incidences of gastrointestinal illness were reported to the ship’s infirmary.
The cruise line has been working closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control since the early part of that voyage. In addition, as soon as the cruise line became aware of an increased incidence of gastro-intestinal illness, the following actions were taken:
- Provided full medical care to guests and crew who became ill and arranged for food and beverages to be provided in the cabins during their recovery.
- Increased the frequency of cleaning and sanitation throughout the ship.
- Offered serving assistance in all the buffet areas to replace self service.
- Communicated with guests throughout the voyage regarding the situation.
The cruise line is currently working with the Centers for Disease Control to determine the cause. Laboratory testing is being conducted to determine what caused the outbreak to occur although a norovirus is viewed as the most likely source.
A total of 121 guests of 1,548 sailing on the four-day voyage and 22 crew out of 686 on board reported to the ship’s infirmary with illness symptoms over the course of the four-day voyage. A reduction in new cases during the latter part of the voyage suggests that the intensive efforts the crew made to reduce further spread proved successful.
The Holiday is scheduled to depart Mobile this afternoon on a five-day voyage to Mexico.
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I just returned from the cruise ship Carnival Pride, 1/27 -2/2-2008 cruies, room 7237. and i got the norwalk virus reacting thursday 1/31 and spent fri in the infirmary (thank god for nurse karen!!!) this is my third time on pride and sixth cruise - i am sorry to report that the Carnival Pride is also sick with the Norwalk Virus and in diar need of better sanitation attempts - inc sanitary hand cleaner dispensers like princess has. so sick - so sad - such a bad cruise.