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US health authorities probe mass vomit outbreak on QEII
2007-01-25
US health authorities were probing the cause of a mass outbreak of vomiting that struck down about 300 people on the world-famous Queen Elizabeth II luxury liner. A total of 304 people -- 276 passengers and 28 crew members -- were laid low after being hit by a norovirus on board the British cruise ship, which docked in San Francisco on Monday. A spokeswoman from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told AFP samples had been taken from the affected people and were being tested as officials sought to determine what caused the outbreak. "We are analyzing stool samples, but usually it takes a few days for this sort of norovirus," she said. The spokeswoman said nearly 17 percent of the 1,652 people on board the ship had been affected, an unusually high concentration. The CDC defines an outbreak as an illness affecting more than three percent of a ship's passengers. Officers from the CDC had boarded the ship when it docked in Acapulco last Friday to investigate the outbreak. Emergency sanitation measures, which included disinfecting casino chips and closing self-service food counters, helped halt the spread of the virus, the CDC added. A spokesman for the QEII's operator, Cunard, said: "The whole cleansing regime has been upgraded. People have been advised on measures they should take." The liner is currently on a worldwide voyage and is now en route to Hawaii. Noroviruses can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping, and in severe cases can be fatal among children and the elderly.
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