More than 200 passengers hit by illness on New Orleans-based cruise

Associated Press ^ | 12/15/02 | AP

[antivenom]

NEW ORLEANS - About 229 guests on the cruise ship Carnival Conquest reported symptoms of a gastrointestinal illness on a voyage that ended Sunday, Carnival Cruise Lines said.

Miami-based Carnival said it was working with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine the cause of the outbreak.

But the company said it was treating the illness as a Norwalk-like virus that has recently hit other cruise ships and was cleaning and sanitizing the entire vessel.

The Conquest, which had 3,160 passengers, left New Orleans on Dec. 8

The next seven-day cruise to the western Caribbean was expected to depart Sunday evening. The company said it had informed the next group of voyagers about the outbreak and was offering refunds to any who did not want to sail.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Agreed as most probable.

[antivenom]

I am wondering about the "port of calls" too...I wonder what the intinerary has been for each of these cruise ships with the Norwalk Virus outbreak...I will investigate (golly I love the internet).

[lelio]

but that does not prevent a passenger from doing the evil deed
Yikes I never even thought of that! Its probably easier that way as the staff talks amongst themselves and wouldn't be able to keep a secret. Anonymous passenger, doesn't know anyone on board, brings a vial. He's off the boat and the cruise line never hears from him again.

[Wordsmith]

I wonder if a terrorist organization is implementing a 2 or 3 phase attack. Spread as widely as possible non-lethal viruses, then follow up with a virus that is much more deadly because of the compromised immune system of the general populace. Just a thought...

[antivenom]

This was a 4 day cruise!

YIKES!!!

[antivenom]

YIKES I can't do math! Shhhessh it was a week...ignore my poor math skills....LOL!

[lelio]

hen follow up with a virus that is much more deadly because of the compromised immune system of the general populace
That's interesting and I would buy it if it was in a movie, but Al-Qaeda's MO so far has been:
* Train people to fly / hijack plane / drive car / get on bus
* Blow themselves up
Not much in the way of sophication. As I've said before we're lucky these terrorists aren't too bright or we'll all be working at the body bag plant.
My guess is that a terrorist org found out how to grow and distribute Norwalk and is doing it. Why do anything more? Its already hurting the economy as it is.

[alnick]

It sure makes you wonder, doesn't it. The thing that puzzles me is if it were terrorism, wouldn't the disease be fatal...unless they're just toying with us.

[ex-Texan]

Next it may be something as terrible as the dreaded Blackpox. Nasty, nasty, with no known cure:

Blackpox is rumored to be Saddam's weapon [WMD] of choice. You can go to Google and enter Blackpox which gets the following results quickly.

Saddam's Weapon of Choice

NewsMax on Blackpox

[Diana Rose]

Norwalk cruise ship info.


http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/f?p=2400:1001:467719::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1010,20107

[Sam Cree]

I don't know, it's true the Muslims countries aren't able to actually manufacture their own stuff, like weapons, but the terrorists that they produce are bright enought to use weapons that are made elsewhere and bright enough to identify some of our weak points. I agree that a 2 step infection program seems a little too subtle.

My gut feeling is that there are suddenly way too many of these cruise ship viruses. Especially now that it's moved from Florida to N.O based cruises and moved into another cruise line. I'm thinking if they don't get it licked soon, they'll have trouble selling berths on cruises.

[philman_36]

This was a 4 day cruise!
Should they have taken the three hour tour, the three hour tour?

[PoisedWoman]

Yes, on Alaska cruises too. Seattle news did a big report.

[mewzilla]

Okay, now I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't something more than rotten hygiene. Wonder if the CDC is checking to see if these cases are all from the same strain of the same bug.

[Political Junkie Too]

The poisoning possibly at the ports of call?

I think so. I posted this on December 4:

What if it's not the cruise ship, per se, but one of its ports of call? The passengers go visiting many small islands during their week-long cruises, and they could contract the viruses off ship, and then introduce it onboard to other passengers when they meet at the buffets or nightclubs or pools or whatever.

Has anyone taken a close look at the Carribbean island security where the cruise ships circulate?

I got no replies at the time. Perhaps now some people are looking into the possibility. If ship-board security is tight, then local islands is where I'd attack. People get off the ships to take in the local flavor, and then bring the virus back on board to infect their fellow passengers.

-PJ

[Asmodeus]

Cruise sanitation is stringently monitored, but not all infections can be prevented.
[excerpt][quote]
Cruise sanitation is stringently monitored, but even the strictest on-board regimen cannot prevent all outbreaks, especially those caused by viruses.

"You're never going to get rid of them," Dr. Frederick Southwick, chief of infectious diseases at the University of Florida College of Medicine, says of such outbreaks. He calls a ship the "perfect vehicle" for transmitting the so-called Norwalk-like virus, suspected in the most recent cases.

"You've got a large number of people in a small environment," he says. The virus spreads rapidly by person-to-person contact. Typically, you get infected when you touch an infected surface, then your mouth. Just one ill person on board can infect many other passengers, he says. [end quote] Source.

[Luis Gonzalez]

I know people who work on cruise ships, this happens all the time folks, it's simply getting more coverage than usual.

[maxwellp]

Are any of the employees on these cruise ships developing illnesses?

[theFIRMbss]

>This has to be "terrorism"...we have since 9-11 seen WAYYY too many of these problems.

Remember the shark
attacks? That was media
hype. This could be, too.

"Mystery Illness" or
Mysterious Reporting?
compares hype to fact.

(It's on another
story, but the issues are
there, press hype or fact.)