More than 230 people infected with Norovirus on a luxury cruise ship

More than 230 passengers and crew members were overshadowed in an epidemic of Norovirus during a 29-day round-trip cruise from England to the East Caribbean, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Queen Mary 2, the lighthouse of the ocean lining of Cunard Lines, left Southampton, England, March 8, according to Cruise Mapper, a follow -up site. An epidemic was reported on March 18, the CDC said after the ship stopped in New York. The passengers and the crew had reported symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting, the agency said.

The CDC said that the epidemic has spread to 224 passengers, out of 2,538 on board and 17 crew members. The ship has isolated them and has taken disinfection measures, he said.

In addition to New York, the ship had stopped in Saint-Maarten, Sainte-Lucie, Granada, Barbados, Dominique, Saint-Kitts and Tortola. Tuesday, Queen Mary, or QM2, as he was called, traveled through the Atlantic Ocean on the way back to Southampton, where he was to arrive on April 6, Cruise Mapper Shows.

Cunard said in a statement on Tuesday that the guests were closely monitored and that the ship thoroughly cleaned. “Thanks to the rapid response of our crew and the additional measures that we have in place, we already see a reduction in the reported cases,” the statement said.

The ship, launched in 2004, measures 1,132 feet long, one of the largest ocean liners in the world. In 2013, a Times journalist described his trip to QM2, which included a starting period launched by an “almost military” eradication operation after an epidemic of Norovirus reported more than 200 people.

Norovirus, a gastrointestinal disease, prosperous in closed areas such as health establishments, dormitories and cruise ships, where people travel and work in narrow neighborhoods. The disease infected up to 21 million Americans per year, according to the CDC that it is spread by contact or by contaminated food or water. There is no treatment and most people recover within a few days.

Cruise ships are required to present themselves to the CDC when there is an epidemic, which refers to the total number of sick people throughout the trip, and not to the number of sick people at the same time.

The CDC reported other cases of Norovirus epidemics on cruise ships. Twelve of the 461 passengers and 22 crew members of a Seabourn reminder cruise were sick on a trip that left Japan on March 16 and was to dock in the United States on April 9, he said.

Last month, a Holland America ship reported an epidemic of Norovirus affecting 89 of its 2,670 passengers and four of its crew during a nine -day cruise in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the South Caribbean.