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SAN FRANCISCO - More than 300 passengers and crew aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2, which is heading for Auckland next month, have been struck down by a highly contagious form of stomach virus.
Some 276 of the 1652 travellers on board or 16.7 per cent - contracted a
suspected stomach flu in recent days, US health officials said on Wednesday after the world famous cruise ship docked in San Francisco.
The others affected were crew members.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was notified by Cunard Line, owner of the Queen Elizabeth 2, on Jan. 11 that some passengers had fallen ill with symptoms associated with norovirus, a virus responsible for gastroenteritis marked by stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea that last two to three days.
The number of sick passengers climbed and 28 of the ship's 1,002 crew also became ill, said Lisa Beaumier, public health analyst with the CDC.
While their symptoms were consistent with norovirus, health officials continue to study stool samples, Beaumier said.
US health officials boarded the Queen Elizabeth 2 in Acapulco, Mexico on Friday to investigate the outbreak. Its crew responded with increased cleaning and disinfection measures.
A Cunard Line spokesman in an email to Reuters said all but six passengers sickened during the outbreak have recovered.
Norovirus is highly contagious and infection is common this time of year.
Nearly 400 passengers and crew were sickened by a common stomach virus on a Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, the company said in early December.
The QE2 is due to dock in Auckland on Sunday February 11, part of her 25th world cruise. She is being accompanied by her sister ship the Queen Mary 2, being touted as the largest moving object ever to visit New Zealand.
The Queen Mary 2 is three times the size of the Titanic, at 345 metres long and 23 storeys high.
- REUTERS
In rare cases, the elderly and young children can die from dehydration caused by norovirus symptoms. The infection, which ranks second only to the common cold in reported cases, usually clears up in two or three days .