Quote:
Originally Posted by Rollie
People spread this virus not the ships. I've been on 20 plus cruises and have never gotten this illness. (knock wood) What I have seen is men in the restrooms not washing after. It makes me sick to see this, and it's older men that should know better. As the poster said above, keep clean and don't touch eyes, nose, and mouth.
Rollie
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While the ill passengers aboard the Royal Caribbean ship haven’t been officially diagnosed yet, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the 577 passengers and 49 crew members who are sick to their stomachs, vomiting and experiencing diarrhea are likely infected with norovirus. The virus affects the stomach and intestines and can be ingested from contaminated food or water; contact with an infected person can also spread the infection (and that carrier may not even know he is spreading the disease, since it can take up to two weeks for symptoms to appear). Once they do, they aren't pretty. And the virus can spread quickly, especially in small, contained spaces like a cruise ship.
In some cases, it can spread through unsanitary bathroom practices, since the microbe resides in the feces. But the CDC says it’s nearly impossible to determine if outbreaks were caused by infected people who board a ship, or by contaminated food or water. The agency has a task force called the Vessel Sanitation Program that requires any ship visiting foreign ports and carrying more than 13 passengers to submit to two random sanitation inspections per year. When outbreaks occur, the CDC responds, sending a scientist on board to take samples for testing and to monitor sanitation procedures.