Almost 200 passengers on Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas cruise ship have been sickened with what officials believe is norovirus, according to the line and news reports. That ship can carry almost 6,000 people.
The liner left Singapore on November 23, 2017. The outbreak began soon after.
Cruise ships, just like other places where many gather in a relatively confined space, are notorious for norovirus outbreaks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posts outbreak updates for international cruise ships that sail from a foreign port to a U.S. port. The ships which participate in the Vessel Sanitation Program report the number of gastrointestinal illnesses, including zero, which have been evaluated by medical staff at least 24 hours before the ship arrives at port.
The Vessel Sanitation Program also requires the ships to send a separate notification when the GI illness count is more than 2% of the total number of passengers or crew onboard. In this outbreak on Ovation of the Seas, almost 3% of the passengers are sick.
In 2017, there have been ten outbreaks on cruise ships. The illnesses ranged from Clostridium perfringens to norovirus to an unknown pathogen or toxin.
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