Several passengers aboard a US cruise ship have been mysteriously stricken with vomiting and diarrhea, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an alert on Wednesday. At least 123 passengers and 16 crew members traveling on the Queen Victoria have reported becoming ill since the voyage left Florida on Jan. 22, according to the news release. The cause of the gastrointestinal illness is not known, health officials said, but they added that the main symptoms among those on board the ship were diarrhea and vomiting.
“Number of passengers who reported being sick during the trip, based on total passengers on board: 123 of 1,824 (6.74%),” the CDC said in the alert. “Number of crew members who reported being ill during the voyage, based on the total number of crew members on board: 16 out of 967 (1.65%),” it added.
In response to the mysterious outbreak, the CDC said the Cunard Cruise Line ship had isolated the sick passengers and crew and “increased cleaning and disinfection procedures per the ship's outbreak prevention and response plan.” The health department's Vessel Sanitation Program is currently monitoring the situation on board, the CDC added.
“The reported cases of gastrointestinal illness are totals for the entire voyage and do not represent the number of active (symptomatic) gastrointestinal cases at any particular port of call or at disembarkation,” the health department noted.
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According to the New York Postthe Queen Victoria ship departed on January 22 on a 16-night voyage from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The ship will make a stop in San Francisco on February 7 before docking in Honolulu five days later.
Meanwhile, this comes weeks after passengers aboard a Florida-based cruise ship were diagnosed with an unknown illness. Passengers on the cruise ship reported symptoms of gastroenteritis, or stomach flu, after departing from Jacksonville. One passenger, Miranda Hill, said her illness was so bad she started throwing up blue vomit. “My vomit was bright blue and I have never eaten anything blue and every time I look at blue vomit it is related to poisoning,” she said.