Clean-up for world's largest cruise ship as virus strikes again
Pastor Dale Morgan
Clean-up for world's largest cruise ship as virus strikes again*
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday December 13, 2006
The Guardian
The world's largest cruise ship was due to sail out of Miami yesterday
after workers spent two days trying to scrub away all traces of a
gastrointestinal virus that had made hundreds of people ill on two
earlier voyages.
The cleansing of the Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas came after
the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) recommended special sanitising of
all high contact areas. Two doctors and 45 extra cleaning staff will
also be on board as the ship sails the Caribbean.
Health experts said the cleaning included any surface that regularly
comes into contact with human hands. "It could be everything from door
handles to elevator buttons to poker chips, from the money itself that
changes hands to the railings on staircases," said David Forney, who
heads the Vessel Sanitation Programme at the Centres for Disease Control
in Atlanta. "It just goes on and on and on."
The first outbreak on Freedom of the Seas occurred last month when more
than 380 passengers became ill. Although the ship was cleaned before its
next sailing, more than 100 passengers and crew were infected by the
virus last week.
Other cruise lines have also been affected. Princess Cruises' Sun
Princess underwent a special cleansing after calling at Port Everglades,
Florida, at the weekend with 97 infected passengers. On Monday Holland
America's Zaandam arrived in San Diego, California, carrying 68 stricken
passengers and crew.
Norovirus, the US version of the winter vomiting disease, takes its name
from Norwalk, Ohio, where the first outbreak was identified at a school
in 1968. It is a complex of viruses that cause vomiting, cramps and
diarrhoea. It spreads through contaminated foods and liquids as well as
surfaces, and is unusually hardy, lingering on surfaces.
Incidence of the disease is up across the US, with recent outbreaks at
nursing homes in the Miami area, a biker bar in upstate New York,
wedding parties in South Dakota, and a high school in Virginia.
Cruise ships are vulnerable because of the large number of people in a
relatively small place - Freedom of the Seas carries a total of 5,370
passengers and crew. While cruise operators discourage patrons from
sailing while unwell, offering refunds if they reschedule, many
travellers are loth to give up a trip booked months ahead.
So far this year, the CDC has registered outbreaks on 33 cruise ships,
compared with 18 last year. "At this time of year, we will probably
continue to see increased levels of illness on the ships, just because
we are seeing that on land," Mr Forney said.