Cruise Ship Virus Nightmare Takes Down a Third of Its Passengers

Almost a third of passengers aboard a scenic National Geographic cruise off the coast of Alaska have come down with a grim gastrointestinal infection. Health officials at the Centers for Disease Control confirmed Tuesday that 18 of the Sea Bird vessel’s total 62 passengers are suffering from “abdominal cramps” and “vomiting.” It’s the third such outbreak aboard the 152-foot-long vessel in as many months. Officials identified norovirus as the cause of cases during the prior two voyages. The CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program is “remotely monitoring the situation, including review of the ship’s outbreak response and sanitation procedures,” the agency has said. This has included asking those infected to supply “stool or vomitus samples,” which are now “pending confirmatory testing.” It comes amid the rapid spread of “explosive diarrhea” across the United States due to an outbreak of the parasite cyclosporiasis.

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