More than 120 people got sick following gastrointestinal infection outbreaks on two cruise ships, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The cruise ships, the Eurodam from Holland America Line and the Oceania Nautica from Oceania Cruises, are due to return to port on Wednesday.
Among the 2,139 passengers on Eurodam, 86 reported being ill during its current cruise, along with eight crewmembers out of 832 staff, the CDC said. Their main symptoms were vomiting and diarrhea, with the cause being attributed to norovirus.
According to CruiseMapper, the ship left Florida’s Port Everglades on Dec. 23 for a New Year’s-themed 16-day round-trip cruise around the Eastern Caribbean.
The norovirus outbreak was reported on Jan. 4.
On the Oceania Nautica, 15 of the 639 guests reported sick during the current cruise, in addition to 16 crewmembers of a staff of 398, according to data provided by the CDC. Here, the predominant symptoms were also diarrhea and vomiting, but the causative agent has not yet been confirmed.
According to CruiseMapper, the Oceania Nautica left port on Dec. 23 for a 16-day one-way cruise from Miami to Los Angeles, also a “New Year” themed trip.
The outbreak was also reported shortly after New Year, on Jan. 3.
To prevent further spread of the infection, the ill passengers and crew have been isolated, the CDC said.
No serious medical complications have been reported on either ship.
Both cruise liners reported to the CDC having initiated increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their company’s outbreak prevention and response plans.
The cruise liners also reached out to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) team for further guidance on sanitation cleaning procedures, and regarding reporting ill cases.
“VSP is remotely monitoring the situation, including review of the ship’s outbreak response and sanitation procedures,” the CDC said.
“Norovirus is often a cause of gastrointestinal outbreaks on cruise ships, but we don’t always know the cause of the outbreak when we begin an investigation,” the CDC said.
“Finding the agent that caused an outbreak (causative agent) can take time. When an outbreak occurs, people whose symptoms met the case definition are asked to provide stool or vomitus samples,” the agency said. “These samples are tested to determine the causative agent.”
The news follows a number of other norovirus outbreaks on cruises reported in December, including two on Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2, affecting 138 of 2,430 passengers, and another affecting 346 of 2,565 passengers; one on Holland America Line’s Rotterdam, with 127 of 2,192 passengers reported sick on Dec. 18; and a Dec.16 outbreak on Princess Cruises’ Ruby Princess, affecting 103 of 3,001 passengers.