300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

[Shiloh]

Likely a norovirus..

Source: http://news.sc/2010/02/23/epidemic-b...east-300-sick/

Epidemic breaks out on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship; at least 300 sick

Just as the South Carolina State Ports Authority announced expansions, bragging about the amount of money brought into the state from the cruise industry, a Celebrity Cruise line out of Charleston, South Carolina reported a pathogenic outbreak that has at least 300 people sick on their way to the Caribbean.

Approximately 300 of the 1800 passengers have come down with a stomach ailment that has resulted in upset stomachs, vomiting and diarrhea. That?s 1/6 of the total population on the boat. The ship?s medical facilities were overwhelmed and more doctors had to be picked up in St. Kitts in the British Virgin Islands. At this time, it was unclear what sort of pathogen or virus is responsible for the outbreak.

The ship left Charleston on February 15 and is scheduled to return on February 26.

[Pathfinder]

Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

Norovirus visits dry land, too

By Allyson Bird

The Post and Courier
Thursday, February 25, 2010

As hundreds of sick passengers steam toward Charleston onboard the Celebrity Mercury, state health officials try to explain a spike in similar stomach flu outbreaks on land.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has investigated 43 norovirus or norovirus-like outbreaks across the state so far this year, including five in Charleston County and one in Berkeley County, according to DHEC public information director Adam Myrick. That's twice the usual number of gastrointestinal illness clusters.

"The virus does live long on surfaces, and it lives longer when it's colder this time of year," Myrick said. "This is when we see these types of outbreaks, but not in recent years on this type of pace."

Norovirus primarily spreads in confined communities, such as cruise ships, schools and hospitals. Statewide, 23 cases came from nursing homes and 14 from schools or colleges.

At its peak Tuesday, 419 of the 1,838 passengers and 27 of the 849 crew members onboard the Mercury had fallen ill. The ship set sail Feb. 15 for an 11-day Caribbean cruise from Charleston and returns to port Friday. A Celebrity spokeswoman said Wednesday that 338 guests remained sick and that the company had not yet received results from an independent laboratory to confirm norovirus.

The local outbreaks include three long-term care facilities, one school and one large event in Charleston County and one long-term care facility in Berkeley County. DHEC officials would not release the specific locations; and The Post and Courier filed a Freedom of Information Act request.

"We've got a good relationship, we've got a good partnership with these types of facilities that are reporting these illnesses to us," Myrick said.

"They're coming to us for guidance, so it's actually helping public health.

And if they don't -- if they're a little bit nervous about it -- it might undermine some of the reporting and some of the surveillance that we are able to do."

One local outbreak continues affecting 60 to 70 people who live or work at

The Palms of Mount Pleasant, an active retirement community on Bowman Road. Executive Director Tim Cook said his staff treats the sickness as norovirus as it awaits results from sample testing.

That means restricting visitors and barring people younger than 21 and pregnant women and limiting transportation from The Palms to prevent spreading the illness. Staff posted signs about strict hygiene and deliver meals and plenty of fluids to residents.

"It's like a ghost town around here right now when usually it's a very vibrant community," Cook said.

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2...-dry-land-too/

[Pathfinder]

Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

Cruise ship back in S.C. after norovirus outbreak

By BRUCE SMITH, The Associated Press Friday, February 26, 2010

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) ? A cruise ship hit by a virus outbreak that sickened hundreds returned Friday with passengers glad to be back and praising the crew for the way they handled the challenge.

The Celebrity Mercury docked about 1:30 a.m. after an 11-day cruise and passengers began disembarking shortly after dawn.

Celebrity Cruise spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said at the height of the outbreak earlier this week 413 of the more than 2,600 passengers and crew came down with intestinal ailments.

An extra doctor and two nurses came aboard in St. Kitts in the Leeward Islands and sailed on the Mercury back to Charleston.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said tests showed the outbreak was caused by norovirus, which can spread quickly in closed quarters.

There were two outbreaks of norovirus, which causes stomach flu, last winter on the Celebrity Mercury, according to the CDC Web site. In all, the agency investigated 15 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses on cruise ships calling at American ports last year.

?It was kind of nerve wracking because we all thought we were going to get sick and they brought on extra doctors,? said Sarah Bennett, 22, of Columbia, S.C., who escaped the virus.

She said the crew did a great job.

?They would not let you touch anything. Even the silverware they handed to you. They did everything,? said Bennett. But, she added, ?we were ready to get off.?

Both Marge and Stewart Ritter of Myrtle Beach were ill for about 24 hours with the virus.

?It was a double whammy,? Marge Ritter, 51, said. ?At our table of six, three ended up becoming ill. It lasted for about 24 hours, you were weak for a little while and then you actually recovered fairly well.?

She has cruised before and said she ?absolutely? would take another.

Kenneth Thompson, 71, of Concord, N.C., came down with the virus and had to stay in his room for 24 hours in isolation.

?It?s just one of those freak things that happens,? said Thompson, who has been on five previous cruises. ?The nurse came by with medications ? complimentary at that.?

The Celebrity Mercury was to be cleaned as was the South Carolina State Ports Authority Passenger terminal before 1,900 more passengers were to board the liner late Friday for another cruise.

The South Carolina cruise industry is growing and the Mercury cruise which left Charleston on Feb. 15 began Charleston?s first year-round cruising season. There will be 67 cruise calls in the city this year. In the past, there were only a handful of winter cruises from Charleston.

The South Carolina State Ports Authority is also making plans to open a new passenger terminal.

http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2010/02/26/news/doc4b88166327eb2252243594.txt

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Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

Ship outbreaks likely to spike

By cnn.com on March 3, 2010

(CNN) -- Suffering a bout of gastrointestinal illness in a cramped cruise ship cabin ranks pretty high on the scale of vacation nightmares. And given the bug going around this year, illness at sea is likely to spike.

Last week, Celebrity Cruises Mercury ship returned to port in Charleston, South Carolina, from a sailing during which more than 20 percent of passengers -- about 400 -- fell ill.

The Vessel Sanitation Program, an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, inspected the ship in Charleston and identified the culprit as norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea. VSP cant say for sure where the virus originated.

"There were cases on the first day that were passenger cases, and there certainly is a connection with respect to increased norovirus in South Carolina. So it could have been from a passenger," said Capt. Jaret Ames, branch chief of the VSP, which works with the cruise industry to prevent and control gastrointestinal illnesses.

High rates of norovirus illness on shore typically translate to cruise ships, Ames said. Outbreaks also frequently occur in other confined areas, including schools and nursing homes.

South Carolinas Department of Health and Environmental Control has reported more than twice the usual number of norovirus outbreaks or unknown outbreaks that appear to be norovirus since early January.

By February 24, the agency had identified about 40 outbreaks compared with about 15 by that time in the past few years, according to spokesman Adam Myrick.

Fourteen of those outbreaks occurred in a school or university setting and more than 20 in long-term care facilities, compared with 3 to 5 in each of those types of facilities in the same timeframe in recent years. The agency does not track outbreaks on cruise ships that originate from the state.

South Carolina isnt alone in seeing a jump in norovirus illness.

"You can see [norovirus increases] right now shore side, from the East to the West Coast, from other countries -- and we have a new strain," said Ames.

The VSPs investigation did reveal some sanitation issues on the Mercury.

"We did find some problems with things like dishwashing. The machines were not operating, at least when we were on board, as theyre designed," Ames said. Final sanitizing temperatures were inadequate, he said.

The investigation also uncovered a few things that needed to be corrected in the laundry operation and cabin disinfection, Ames said.

Celebrity delayed Mercurys next sailing to thoroughly clean the ship and address issues revealed in the investigation, said Celebrity Cruises spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez.

"We delayed the departure of the ship for 24 hours in order to make sure that we did everything the way it needed to be done and we didnt rush any of the cleaning," Martinez said.

Mercury passenger Monica Blilie, a retiree from Gautier, Mississippi, was pleased with Celebritys response during the trip.

"The crew did everything they could do, as far as we could see," Blilie said. She didnt get sick during the trip, but her husband, Jon, developed gastrointestinal illness the day after they returned.

"You could not touch anything, they served everything. You couldnt even put salt and pepper on your own food. They did that," Blilie said. The crew also made it clear that passengers should use hand sanitizer and wash their hands regularly.

The VSP requires cruise ships to have Outbreak Prevention and Response Plans, which the Mercury implemented with increased cleaning and disinfection across the ship as well as modifying food service procedures.

Outbreaks of illness on cruise ships arent unusual, and norovirus outbreaks dont necessarily correlate with the sanitation scores the VSP gives cruise ships in regular unannounced inspections. Illness outbreaks caused by bacterial or parasitic pathogens can more clearly be traced to a failure in an onboard system, Ames said.

The Mercury scored a 94 out of 100 on its last inspection. Inspection scores of 85 or lower are considered unsatisfactory by the VSP.

Dr. Bradley Connor, former president of the International Society of Travel Medicine, said the Vessel Sanitation Program "has raised the standards of the industry tremendously," but norovirus outbreaks often include factors beyond the control of inspectors and cruise lines.

"Sometimes you can have the cleanest ship with the best scores that unfortunately is hit by norovirus, and a lot of that has to do with who the passengers are," Connor said.

Still, the scale of the recent Mercury outbreak is unusual. Few of the more than 30 gastrointestinal illness outbreaks recorded by the VSP since the beginning of 2008 affected more than 20 percent of passengers, and the vast majority affected less than 10 percent.

So what can passengers on upcoming cruises do to stay healthy?
Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of cruising Web site Cruise Critic, washes and sanitizes her hands frequently and avoids touching highly trafficked surfaces such as banisters when possible.

"Take reasonable precautions, but try not to get paranoid about it," Brown said.

"[Gastrointestinal illness] certainly happens on cruise ships and its certainly a disappointment when youre on your vacation and you get it, but you can get it at home."

http://usnews.eu/ship-outbreaks-likely-to-spike.html

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Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

Outbreaks of stomach illness hit four cruise ships in one week

At least four cruise ships this week have been hit by outbreaks of stomach illness, an unusually high number.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta say Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas, Celebrity Cruises' Millennium and Holland America's Maasdam all are reporting large numbers of passengers suffering from diarrhea and vomiting.

Another Royal Caribbean ship sailing in South America and thus not subject to CDC reporting, the Vision of the Seas, also has been hit by a widespread outbreak of stomach illness, according to local media reports confirmed today by the line.

The largest of the outbreaks is on the Maasdam, where nearly 14% of 1,211 passengers on board have fallen ill, according to the CDC. The health agency says about 7% and 5% of passengers on the Millennium and Jewel of the Seas, respectively, have been ill. Media reports in South America put the outbreak on the Vision of the Seas at around 10% of passengers.

Health authorities in Brazil are not allowing Vision of the Seas passengers to go ashore today as scheduled in Buzios, Brazil due to the outbreak on the ship. A Royal Caribbean spokeswoman tells USA TODAY the prohibition was issued in "an abundance of caution." The authorities have asked Royal Caribbean to keep the ship docked at the port early today while they investigate.

The causes of the four outbreaks have not been determined. The CDC says it has taken samples for testing from passengers on the three ships that it monitors.

The flurry of outbreaks come just a week after Celebrity Cruises' Mercury was struck by an unusually widespread, highly-publicized outbreak of norovirus that affected more than 22% of 1,833 passengers.

The Mercury spent an extra day in Charleston, S.C. this past weekend undergoing a thorough cleaning before heading back out to sea late Saturday. The ship is sailing on a shortened nine-night itinerary to Mexico, Belize and the Bahamas. A call in Key West has been canceled.

Sometimes called the "24-hour flu," norovirus is the most common cause of stomach illness in the United States, accounting for around half of all cases, according to the CDC. It breaks out regularly in schools, nursing homes, hospitals, offices and other places people congregate.

Until this month, incidents such as the ones seen this week on the four ships had been becoming increasingly rare. The CDC recorded just 13 outbreaks of illnesses such as norovirus on cruise ships operating out of U.S. ports in 2009, down from 15 in 2008, 21 in 2007 and 34 in 2006.

So far in 2010, however, there already have been seven outbreaks recorded by the CDC.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/cruis...&ak=81743.blog

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Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

Mar 4, 2010 4:40 pm US/Eastern
Quarantined Lifted, "Vision" Allowed To Sail On


MIAMI (CBS4) ―

<DL class="cbstv_article_images cbstv_img_border" sizset="2" sizcache="0"><DT> Click to enlarge 1 of 1

<DD>The Vision of the Seas, part of the fleet operated by Miami's Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines CBS


</DD></DL>
Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas is back on course after it was placed under quarantine off the coast of Brazil when hundreds of passengers came down with serious bouts of vomiting and diarrhea.

Royal Caribbean International, which is based in Miami, issued a statement saying that the ship, carrying 1,987 passengers and a crew of 700, was quarantined at Buzios, near Rio de Janeiro after some of the passengers and crew ``came down with a gastrointestinal disorder.''

The first case was detected on Wednesday and hundreds more occurred after that.

Blood and urine samples were collected from those stricken and food supplies were inspected to determine if the cause was food poisoning.

Most of those who felt ill on Wednesday started to improve by Thursday afternoon.

In response to the incident Royal Caribbean released the following statement:

Vision of the Seas, which began its sailing in Sao Paulo (Santos), Brazil on March 1, has experienced a number of guests that are exhibiting symptoms of gastrointestinal illness. As part of our standard notification system, we informed the local health authorities. Like us, the government of Brazil takes all health matters seriously.

In an abundance of caution, health authorities requested that Vision of the Seas not allow guests ashore in Buzios on Wednesday, and that the ship remain docked until they could assess the situation. We have been working closely with the health authorities to understand the potential cause of the gastrointestinal illness. The ship sailed for San Paulo today at approximately 4:40 p.m. local time.

http://cbs4.com/local/vision.of.the.2.1537551.html

[Pathfinder]

Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

Bug still troubling cruise ship

55 of 1,880 passengers suffer norovirus, following larger outbreak on previous trip

By Allyson Bird

The Post and Courier
Friday, March 5, 2010

The cruise ship Celebrity Mercury continues to be plagued by illnesses.
Since the ship set sail from Charleston on Saturday, 55 of the 1,880 passengers have fallen ill with a stomach bug known as norovirus, cruise line spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said late Wednesday in an e-mail. She could not be reached Thursday for an update.

The recent spate of illnesses follows a much larger outbreak on the ship's previous voyage late last month, during which more than 400 passengers and dozens of crew members fell ill with the bug.

The Mercury's most recent departure was delayed a day as a cleaning crew sanitized the ship, and three officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention went aboard to test for the virus.

Officials with the State Ports Authority and the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau coordinated with Celebrity to help stranded passengers enjoy their unplanned layover in Charleston.

Norovirus symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps, sometimes accompanied by a low-grade fever. The highly contagious illness usually lasts a day or two and spreads through food, water or person-to-person contact.

Norovirus generally affects confined communities such as cruise ships, schools and hospitals. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has investigated twice the usual number of gastrointestinal illness clusters across the state this year.

For more information

Go to scdhec.gov

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/mar/05/bug-still-troubling-cruise-ship/

[Pathfinder]

Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

<HR style="COLOR: #cccccc; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #cccccc" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><TABLE class=storycontent cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>Page last updated at 12:19 GMT, Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Norovirus outbreak on Mediterranean cruise ship



</TD></TR><TR><TD class=storybody><!-- S BO --><!-- S IIMA --><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=203 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD> Fred Olsen said it follows Health Protection Agency guidelines


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- E IIMA --><!-- S SF -->Passengers on board a cruise ship run by a Suffolk company have been confined to their cabins during an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug, norovirus.

Fred Olsen, based in Ipswich, said 13 passengers are currently keeping to their rooms on board Boudicca after becoming ill on a Mediterranean cruise.

Up to 30 people at any time have experienced symptoms on the three-week trip, the company added.

It said it carries out precautions and gives affected ships a deep clean.
<!-- E SF -->
The situation has been worsened by "very stormy" conditions in the eastern Mediterranean, causing many people to suffer from sea-sickness.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

...

Full text at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/suffolk/8559719.stm

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Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

Sick ships: Cruises see rise in norovirus cases

8 outbreaks on cruise liners already this year ? compared to just 15 in ?09

By Linda Carroll
msnbc.com contributor
updated 7:38 a.m. CT, Wed., March. 10, 2010<SCRIPT language=javascript> function UpdateTimeStamp(pdt) { var n = document.getElementById("udtD"); if(pdt != '' && n && window.DateTime) { var dt = new DateTime(); pdt = dt.T2D(pdt); if(dt.GetTZ(pdt)) {n.innerHTML = dt.D2S(pdt,((''.toLowerCase()=='false')?false:true ));} } } UpdateTimeStamp('634038251163770000');</SCRIPT>

The stomach bug caught up with Kenneth Thompson just a few days before the end of the cruise. He?d seen others getting sick and was hoping he would escape unscathed. But then his stomach started to feel queasy.

Pretty soon he was vomiting every half hour. ?I never had anything like this,? says the 71-year-old from Concord, S.C. ?It just came out of me in streams, just gushes of it.?

Thompson was one of more than 400 passengers sickened by the norovirus on a Celebrity Cruise lines ship in mid-February. That outbreak of gastrointestinal illness is one of eight to hit cruise ships in 2010 ? with four in just one week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has officially tied many of the outbreaks to the norovirus. Compared to 2009, when there were just 15 total outbreaks on cruise liners, the early 2010 figures may portend a very bad year.


Just a blip ? or a trend?

Experts aren?t yet sure what to make of the rash of outbreaks, but they?re not ready to raise the alarm and call it an epidemic. ?Four in one week ? that?s not happy news,? says Dr. Claire Panosian, a clinical professor of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles. ?It could be a blip or it could be a trend. It?s too early to say.?

The only way to know whether rash of outbreaks is just a coincidence or a sign that something might have changed with the virus is to wait and see how the next few months go, says Dr. Neil Fishman, an associate professor of medicine and director of health care epidemiology and infection prevention for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. If the outbreaks continue to occur at the same rate as they have in the past few months, then there might be something to worry about, Fishman says.
...

More at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35786891/ns/health-infectious_diseases/

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Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

Gastroenteritis Strikes Cruise Ship in Brazil</NYT_HEADLINE><NYT_BYLINE>

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 12, 2010

Filed at 11:17 a.m. ET

SAO PAULO (AP) -- Nearly 50 passengers aboard an international cruise ship docked in Brazil have been stricken with vomiting and diarrhea, a health official said Friday. It was the same ship that last week was briefly placed under quarantine after hundreds of people came down with gastroenteritis.

''At least 47 passengers on the Vision of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean International, were stricken by what we believe are noroviruses that cause gastroenteritis,'' a spokesman for the National Agency for Sanitary Vigilance said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with department policy.

The ship, docked in the port of Santos, was not placed under quarantine and the nearly 2,000 passengers aboard were allowed to leave since ''no one was seriously ill and there was no danger of the disease spreading.''

It was the Vision of the Seas' first cruise since last week when 310 people came down with gastroenteritis caused by noroviruses, the spokesman said.

The ship will be cleansed again ''but now that we are pretty sure that noroviruses are again to blame, we know what kind of cleaning agents to use,'' the spokesman said.
...

Entire article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/12/world/AP-LT-Brazil-Cruise-Ship.html

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

CDC makes no-sail recommendation for cruise shipBy Marnie Hunter, CNN
March 15, 2010 5:07 p.m. EDT

(CNN) -- The Centers for Disease Control is making a no-sail recommendation for at least four full days for the Celebrity Mercury cruise ship to investigate recurring outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness, a CDC spokesman said Monday.

"The CDC and the cruise line corporate staff have not yet determined why the controls that they were following have not been effective," said CDC spokesman Ricardo Beato.

Celebrity Cruises has been notified of the no-sail recommendation, Beato said.

story continues at; http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/03/15...ex.html?hpt=T2

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Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

Mercury staying in port awhile

Officials hope inspection can reveal source of outbreaks

By Allyson Bird

The Post and Courier
Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Carrying hundreds of passengers ill with a stomach bug, the cruise ship Celebrity Mercury plans to return to Charleston a day early on Thursday with a recommendation from federal health officials not to sail again for at least four days.

File/staff
The Celebrity Mercury docks at Charleston's Passenger Terminal in early February.

This voyage, which departed the Port of Charleston on March 8, marks the third local embarkation in which passengers became sick with what appears to be norovirus. Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for Celebrity's parent company, Royal Caribbean Cruises, said 342 out of 1,829 passengers became ill this trip.

That follows 207 sick passengers on the previous voyage and 419 sick passengers on the trip before that. This time, the cruise will forgo a call in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, Martinez said, as crew members continue conducting "enhanced cleaning" in coordination with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CDC spokesman Ricardo Beato said his agency will issue a "no-sail recommendation" for four days, as officials continue their investigation. He described the procedure as "one of the last resources."

"We haven't determined why the controls that were in place after the first two outbreaks were not effective," Beato said. Those efforts included extra cleaning, so much that it delayed the second sailing by a day, plus delivering twice daily reports of illness and disinfection plans to the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program.
...

More at:

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/mar/16/mercury-to-stay-in-port-a-while/

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Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

<TABLE class=plain cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=750 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left colSpan=2>March 18, 2010</TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2 height=10></TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Links --><!-- End Links --><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2>Q&A: Celebrity Cruises President Talks Norovirus in Wake of Massive Outbreaks</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Excerpts:

Cruise Critic: How does Celebrity normally combat the spread of Norovirus?

Dan Hanrahan: As soon as we see any pattern of Norovirus, even minimal impact, we start an enhanced cleaning process. We bring out the cleaning fluids that specifically kill Norovirus and we start to use chlorine. We consider this our "Code Yellow" stage. If we see more than six cases in six hours, we go to "Code Red."

At that point we don't let people handle utensils, we're cleaning at a more frequent rate throughout the ship, and we ask guests to stay in the room 24 hours after the last symptom. You are contagious until that point. If passengers follow that, we refund money for the time they're quarantined.

If they don't follow it, we do not refund the per diem. And yes, it's pretty easy to figure out which passengers respect the contagion period -- and which do not.

Our local medical team is already onboard (they got on in St. Kitts) and there are additional doctors and nurses on the ship.

You'd be surprised at how detailed are the recommendations for cleaning when there's a Code Red situation. In one specific instance, our crew must use one rag to put on disinfectant and then use another rag to wipe it off.

Ninety-nine times out of 100 we get this under control right away. But Mercury's experience is an anomaly.

CC: Have you ever seen such an epidemic of Norovirus on cruise ships before?

DH: Back in 2001, we saw some pretty aggressive viruses. The difference is that today we've got much better recording devices -- we track the spread of the virus much better than before. Back then, it wasn't unprecedented for a cruise line to take a ship out of rotation for an entire cruise in order to sanitize it.

CC: What will be different about the cleaning process than Celebrity's usual Code Red response?

DH: By bringing the ship in one day early -- and delaying its departure by two days, we'll have 78 hours to do a full cleaning. In this case we're bringing on 50 additional crewmembers (some are breaking their holidays, others we're borrowing from other ships). We've hired a carpet cleaning company -- up to a dozen of its staffers will steam clean every carpet on Mercury. We're going to use Bioglobe's electro-static sprayers. This is a new technology and it works a little bit like the spray guns you use to paint cars. In this case you go into a room and spray. This is effective because they're able to venture into hard to reach spots (under tables, a chair arm, inside the closet, on the hangers). It's really effective.

We have hired a retired CDC vessel sanitation staffer to provide guidance and counsel. We also have six of our shoreside management team to provide more oversight to the cleansing process.

CC: With all these extra workers, why do you need three-plus days to clean the ship?

DH: Giving us a few extra days allows us to go through the process of cleaning two more times! It's important to understand that the incubation period of Norovirus is 36 hours, so it's possible that a ship could experience two incubation periods in that time. This way, effectively, the virus dies twice.

We're hiring 30 workers who will clean the port terminal after everyone leaves the ship Thursday. Other than that, we have talked with the Centers for Disease Control, which likes our plan. The CDC has been very good partners in helping us to figure out how to get rid of this.

CC: How will you ensure that this period of sanitizing Mercury will work and that passengers on its cruise departing Sunday won't be affected?

DH: We'll start out in Code Red. Passengers won't be able to serve themselves from the buffet, sanitizers will be everywhere, and we'll be encouraging all to wash their hands. Even though this ship will be spotless (I don't know how it would be possible for Norovirus to live after the three day break), chances are that someone could bring it on, and that's reality. So we'll start the ship off in full Code Red, and we will ask people to respect their fellow guests, to wash their hands with soap and water, and if they do get ill, to honor the quarantine period.

We've also made an offer to anyone who, booked on Sunday's cruise out of Charleston, is nervous about contracting Norovirus. We've given these passengers the option to cancel their cruises and receive a full refund, plus a 15 percent credit toward a future voyage. So far, about eight percent have taken us up on it.

Full story at:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=3756

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Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

Celebrity's Mercury Cruise Ship - Ready to Sail?

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Jim Walker

At 8:00 p.m. this evening, Celebrity Cruises' Mercury cruise ship will sail for an eight day cruise to the Caribbean.

The Mercury has been called the "sickest sea at sea." Even ABC's Good Morning America posed the question: Celebrity Mercury - Sickest Ship At Sea - Can Cruise Ship Be Cured?

Local South Carolina ABC affiliate WCIV News - 4 is optimistic that the cruise ship has been thoroughly cleaned over the past 72 hours after the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a rare "no-sail" advisory. The ABC affiliate reports that "officials are now confident the ship is safe."

But I would not be so sure. Gastro-intestinal illnesses can be caused by contaminated food or water, from fecal-oral transmission from crew member to passenger, or from sick passengers who come aboard and infect others.

And the CDC has not determined the cause of the last sickness outbreak.

The CDC report for the Celebrity Mercury's March 8th -19th sailing indicates that the "causative" agent for the widespread illnesses is "unknown."
/.../

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/

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Re: 300 sick on Charleston, South Carolina cruise ship

<TABLE style="WIDTH: 100%"><CAPTION style="FONT-SIZE: 110%">
Outbreak Updates for International Cruise Ships
Excerpt:

2010

</CAPTION><TBODY><TR><TD width=140>Cruise Line </TD><TD width=143>Cruise Ship </TD><TD width=87>Sailing Dates </TD><TD width=93>Causative Agent </TD></TR><TR><TD width=140>Celebrity Cruises</TD><TD width=143>Mercury</TD><TD width=87>03/08 - 03/19</TD><TD width=93>Unknown</TD></TR></TR><TR><TD width=140>Celebrity Cruises</TD><TD width=143>Mercury</TD><TD width=87>02/26 - 03/08</TD><TD width=93>Norovirus</TD></TR><TR><TD width=140>Royal Caribbean International</TD><TD width=143>Jewel of the Seas</TD><TD width=87>02/22 - 03/05</TD><TD width=93>Unknown</TD></TR><TR><TD width=140>Celebrity Cruises</TD><TD width=143>Millennium</TD><TD width=87>02/22 - 03/05</TD><TD width=93>Norovirus</TD></TR><TR><TD width=140>Holland America Line</TD><TD width=143>Maasdam</TD><TD width=87>02/19 - 03/05</TD><TD width=93>Unknown</TD></TR><TR><TD width=140>Celebrity Cruises</TD><TD width=143>Mercury</TD><TD width=87>02/15 - 02/26</TD><TD width=93>Norovirus</TD></TR><TR><TD width=140>Fred Olsen Cruise Lines</TD><TD width=143>Balmoral</TD><TD width=87>01/05 - 02/04</TD><TD width=93>Unknown</TD></TR><TR><TD width=140>Cunard Cruise Line</TD><TD width=143>Queen Victoria</TD><TD width=87>01/12 - 01/27</TD><TD width=93>Unknown</TD></TR><TR><TD width=140>Cunard Cruise Line</TD><TD width=143>Queen Victoria</TD><TD width=87>01/04 - 01/12</TD><TD width=93>Norovirus</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/GIlist.htm#2010