Several guests on a cruise ship in the United States have inexplicably become ill with vomiting and diarrhoea, according to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory issued Wednesday. According to the press release, at least 123 passengers and 16 crew members aboard the Queen Victoria have reported becoming ill since the cruise began on January 22 in Florida. The cause of the gastrointestinal ailment is unknown, according to health officials, although the most common symptoms among people aboard the vessel were diarrhoea and vomiting.
Number of passengers who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 123 of 1,824 (6.74%)
“Number of passengers who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 123 of 1,824 (6.74%),” the CDC said in the alert. “Number of crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 16 of 967 (1.65%),” it added. In response to the mysterious outbreak, the CDC said that the Cunard Cruise Line ship had isolated the sick passengers and crew, and “increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to the ship’s outbreak prevention and response plan”. The health agency’s Vessel Sanitation Program is currently monitoring the situation on board, the CDC added. “The gastrointestinal illness cases reported are totals for the entire voyage and do not represent the number of active (symptomatic) gastrointestinal cases at any given port of call or at disembarkation,” the health agency noted.
According to the New York Post, Queen Victoria embarked on a 16-night journey from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on January 22. The yacht will stop in San Francisco on February 7 before docking in Honolulu five days later. Meanwhile, this comes weeks after guests on a Florida-based cruise ship contracted a mysterious sickness. After leaving Jacksonville, passengers on the cruise liner reported symptoms of gastroenteritis, also known as stomach flu. Miranda Hill, a passenger, stated that her illness was severe enough to cause her to vomit blue. “My throw-up was vivid blue, and I’ve never eaten anything blue, and whenever I search up blue throw-up, it has to deal with a poisoning,” she said.