Cunard Confirms Norovirus Cases Aboard QE2 World Cruise

Cunard Line has confirmed that there were cases of Norovirus among passengers on the current Queen Elizabeth 2 world cruise sailing. The vessel left Southampton, England, on January 2 and arrived in Acapulco, Mexico, on January 19.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program, 263 of the 1,652 passengers aboard the QE2 became sick from Norovirus, or 16 percent. Only one crewmember appeared to have become ill.

Cunard said that Norovirus is currently circulating widely throughout North America and the U.K., and suspects that the illness was inadvertently brought onboard by embarking passengers.

The line said it “immediately initiated additional enhanced sanitation procedures to interrupt the person-to-person spread of this virus.”

In response to the outbreak, the CDC said, Cunard Line and the crew aboard the ship increased cleaning and disinfection procedures, notified passengers aboard the ship of the outbreak, made daily announcements of precautionary advice to avoid infection, sent specialists aboard the vessel to provide support and collected stool specimens for analysis.

The Atlanta-based CDC VSP boarded the ship in Acapulco to do an onboard investigation, distribute and analyze passenger and crew surveys, interview ill people, conduct an environmental health inspection, and make recommendations, the CDC said.

In addition, Cunard will send daily updates to the CDC until the number of ill people returns to expected levels.