The Princess Cruise line Ruby Princess has reported a stomach illness outbreak on its latest cruise. The ship had voyage dates of March 3 to March 10, 2013. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea. There is no known cause, although the cause of most outbreaks on cruise ships is norovirus. Symptoms of that highly contagious virus include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, along with possible headache and low grade fever.
Two hundred sixty six passengers (out of 3,129) and 10 crew (out of 1,189) reportedly became ill during the voyage. The outbreak was communicated to the Vessel Sanitation Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 10, 2013, so no on board response to the outbreak was conducted.
When the ship, which journeyed to the Eastern Caribbean, docked in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, the staff cleaned and disinfected the ship according to their outbreak prevention and response plan. Another cruise was scheduled for the same day, and boarding passengers were told of the outbreak. The ship will report to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program daily on this next voyage.
Last year there were seven outbreaks on the Princess Cruise line ships. All of the outbreaks were caused by norovirus, although an outbreak in October 2012 was also caused by Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC). The Ruby Princess had had two of the 2012 outbreaks; one in October and the other in February.
