Cruise industry witnessed the worst January in 2014 – courtesy Norovirus

January 2014 witnessed the worst cases of gastrointestinal illness on a cruise ship in the last six years. Three cruise ships were affected by possible norovirus infection and had to return to

the U.S. ports. The last time more than two ships reported stomach flu was in January 2006.

Norovirus which is better known as stomach flu was the cause of the two in the three stomach illness outbreaks in 2014. It was revealed that a new strain of virus caused the 700 illness on the Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas.

 
According to the CDC, the norovirus is the cause of 67% of the gastrointestinal illness in the cruise ship; however, other samples of virus infection are also detected which pose potential threat for cruise travellers.

Cruise ships are only required to alert the CDC of an outbreak if two percent or more of passengers and crew onboard fall ill. If fewer than two percent of passengers and crew onboard are identified as ill, the ship is not required to report the cases to the CDC.

 
In the last 20 years, the U.S. cruise ships have been reported on 292 occasions of virus outbreaks. An average of 6.6 percent passengers has been ill in each case reported in the last ten years.