Disney Wonder: CDC reports additional cases in gastrointestinal outbreak
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vessel Sanitation Program reported a gastrointestinal outbreak onboard the Disney Cruise Line ship, Disney Wonder, on Friday and at the time, 97 cases were recorded.
Norovirus Image/CDC
In an update today, health officials now put the total cases at 145, 131 of 2680 passengers onboard and 14 of 991 crew members.
The patients suffered symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea resembling norovirus; however, the exact etiology has not been determined. Specimens were sent to CDC for testing Sunday when the vessel arrived in the port of Miami.
Norovirus is a highly contagious viral illness that often goes by other names, such as viral gastroenteritis, stomach flu, and food poisoning.
The symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and some stomach cramping. Sometimes people additionally have a low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, and a general sense of tiredness. The illness often begins suddenly, and the infected person may feel very sick. In most people, the illness is self-limiting with symptoms lasting for about 1 or 2 days. In general, children experience more vomiting than adults do.
Norovirus is typically spread person to person particularly in crowded, closed places. Norovirus is typically spread through contaminated food and water, touching surfaces or objects contaminated with norovirus and then putting your hand or fingers in your mouth and close contact with someone who is vomiting or has diarrhea.
[…] a follow-up to previous reports (HERE and HERE) on the gastrointestinal outbreak onboard a Disney Wonder voyage last month, federal health […]