The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) revealed that 73 (66 passengers and seven crew members) on Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Woman cruise ship reported being sick in the course of the cruise that led to Miami on Friday, with complaints of stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea.

This yr, there have been 14 gastrointestinal outbreaks on cruise ships that met the federal well being company’s threshold for public notification, greater than any for the years between 2017 and 2019.

The CDC has not decided the “causative agent” for this most up-to-date outbreak. Norovirus is listed because the causative agent in all different 13 cruise ship outbreaks this yr.

Norovirus is the standard reason behind gastrointestinal sicknesses on cruise ships and is often the reason for outbreaks in nursing properties, hospitals and daycare amenities. In response to the CDC and FDA, the more than likely trigger for cruise ship GI outbreaks is contaminated water or meals.

Virgin Voyages downplayed the outbreak, stating that  there isn’t a influence to the upcoming cruise’s ports of name. Virgin Voyages’ COO Michelle Bentubo advised USA TODAY: “We’re working carefully with the CDC and their medical professionals. There may be presently no influence to the upcoming voyage’s departure time or ports of name.”

Have a remark or query? Please go away one beneath or be a part of the dialogue on our Fb web page.

Photograph Credit score: Scarlet Woman – Sidvics – CC BY-SA 4.0 commons / wikimedia; molecure – BBC.