NewsDesk @bactiman63

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports a norovirus outbreak onboard a recent Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Summit voyage.

Image/CDC

According to officials, 177 passengers and crew on the May 15–May 25, 2023 voyage suffered from symptoms of diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and headache.

Norovirus was confirmed as the causative agent of the illnesses.

This is the 5th cruise ship outbreak reported by the CDC to be confirmed caused by norovirus.

In response to the outbreak, Celebrity Cruises and the crew onboard the ship reported the following actions:

  • Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to the ship’s outbreak prevention and response plan.
  • Notified current guests of the situation onboard and encouraged illness reporting and good hand hygiene.
  • Collected and sent stool specimens from gastrointestinal illness cases to the CDC laboratory.
  • Provided twice daily reports of gastrointestinal illness cases to the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) during the outbreak investigation.
  • Consulted with VSP about sanitation cleaning procedures and reporting ill cases.
  • Notified embarking guests of the situation onboard and encouraged illness reporting and good hand hygiene.

Cruise ship essentials

VSP monitored the situation and the ship’s outbreak response and sanitation procedures.

Norovirus is a highly contagious viral illness that often goes by other names, such as viral gastroenteritis, stomach flu, and food poisoning.

The symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and some stomach cramping. Sometimes people additionally have a low-grade fever, chills,headache, muscle aches, and a general sense of tiredness. The illness often begins suddenly, and the infected person may feel very sick. In most people, the illness is self-limiting with symptoms lasting for about 1 or 2 days. In general, children experience more vomiting than adults do.

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Norovirus is spread person to person particularly in crowded, closed places. Norovirus is typically spread through contaminated food and water, touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus and then putting your hand or fingers in your mouth and close contact with someone who is vomiting or has diarrhea.

Norovirus causes more than 20 million illnesses annually in the US, and it is the leading cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in the United States.