The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that a gastrointestinal illness outbreak sickened 12 people aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird during a late-May voyage in Alaska. The agency said 9 of the ship’s 66 passengers and 3 of its 24 crew members fell ill during the sailing that ran from May 26 through May 31.
The outbreak was reported on May 28. The main symptoms were vomiting and diarrhea, and the cause has not yet been identified.
Lindblad Expeditions, which operates the vessel, responded by increasing cleaning and disinfection, isolating sick passengers and crew, and consulting with the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program on sanitation measures and illness reporting.
Federal health officials also remotely monitored the outbreak response and reviewed the ship’s sanitation procedures. The agency noted that passengers and crew whose symptoms met the case definition did not provide samples, which means the exact cause of the outbreak has not yet been identified.
The Alaska outbreak follows other recent gastrointestinal illness cases at sea. Last month, we wrote about a norovirus outbreak that sickened 115 people on the Caribbean Princess, one of several cruise outbreaks reported this year.
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Photo credit – Ethan Ableman/Flickr via KTOO.