Quote:
Originally Posted by travelguy
we have cruised many times and have not experienced any of the viruses and other intestinal problems that others seem to think run rampant on all cruise ships. unsanitary people spread these germs, plain and simply. didn't your parents teach you to wash your hands? and not cough on the food?
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Please read some of the earlier posts on noroviruses. Anyway, on a ship with 6,000 people, one must assume that there are a bunch of people not washing their hands and coughing on the food. On my last cruise aboard the Norwegian Epic, one very sick 5 year old was throwing up on the floor in the middle of a very crowded buffet. The crew immediately marked off that area of the floor and in minutes cleaned it up, but who knows how much of that stuff got aerosolized when it hit the floor. Norovirus is the most common cause of gastroenteritis in the U.S., with between 19 to 21 million cases a year and more than 56,000 hospitalizations.
Once an infected person gets onboard a ship, the virus can be spread quickly, mainly through hand contact with ship railings, bathroom doors, and especially buffet food.
The industrial-size servings of food on a cruise ship with hundreds of passengers can be particularly worrisome, since once the virus enters the food it can spread rapidly. Food can also get more easily contaminated with the virus if it sits out for several hours, as is often the case with buffet-style meals.
And so many people being in one place eases the virus's spread. In close quarters it doesn't get away, everything's concentrated.