Norovirus Outbreak Infects Hundreds of Passengers on Popular Cruise Line
Over 200 passengers and crew members aboard a still-at-sea Cunard cruise ship have contracted norovirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The ship departed Southampton, England on March 8 bound for New York City and then the Caribbean. Of the 2,538 guests on board, 224 have reportedly fallen ill to the stomach bug which causes vomiting and diarrhea. Another 17 crew members are also affected, the CDC confirmed. As the cruise does not conclude until April 6, the uninfected guests are stuck rubbing shoulders with those who have come down with norovirus.'We have had a small number of guests on board Queen Mary 2 who have reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness,' a Cunard spokesperson told U.S.A. Today. 'We are continuing to closely monitor the guests and, as a precaution, completed a comprehensive deep clean of the ship and immediately activated our enhanced health and safety protocols, which are proving to be effective.'
Unfortunately, the Queen Mary 2 is not the only ship stuck at sea currently suffering from a norovirus outbreak. The CDC reported that Seabourn Cruise Lines' Seabourn Encore is also weathering its share of sick passengers. Out of 461 guests, 12 have fallen ill with norovirus. Twenty-two of the 405 crew members have also been diagnosed. Like the Queen Mary 2, the Seabourn Encore will be in open water until April 9, leaving uninfected passengers over a week to wait it out.Diagnosed passengers on both ships have been quarantined from healthy guests. So far this year, the CDC has identified 12 gastrointestinal disease outbreaks on cruise ships. Norovirus has reportedly been responsible for 10 of those instances.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Vaccines could get more expensive and harder to access after RFK Jr. purged a CDC panel
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shook up a key federal vaccine advisory committee this week, ousting its sitting 17 members Monday and naming eight new individuals Wednesday, including ones known for anti-vaccine views and for spreading misinformation. The changes could potentially impact vaccine cost and availability in California and the uncertainty is making families anxious, experts say. 'I've been having several conversations every day with families who are trying to get their children vaccinated early because parents are worried that these vaccines will not be available for their children in the near future,' said Eric Ball, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics in California. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice provides vaccine recommendations to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The group's guidance doesn't just have medical implications; it also has financial consequences for people seeking vaccinations. 'Under the Affordable Care Act, if ACIP recommends a vaccine, insurance companies have to cover it,' said Dorit Reiss, a professor of law at UC College of the Law San Francisco, who specializes in vaccine-related law and policies. The federally funded Vaccines for Children program also covers recommended vaccines for uninsured and underinsured children, Reiss said. Potentially, the new ACIP members could alter recommendations, which would in turn affect coverage for vaccines. Nothing is certain, however: 'We don't know how this (newly) constituted committee will vote,' Reiss said. The advisory committee is scheduled to meet on June 25 to review scientific data and vote on vaccine recommendations. If problems do arise around vaccine access, there could be additional issues for California's immunization mandates for schools. 'How can you mandate a vaccine if people can't access it?' Reiss said. The sweeping changes to ACIP, established in 1964, are unprecedented, experts say. 'I can't even think of a time when an individual member has been removed from the committee,' said Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of global health and infectious diseases at Stanford and one of the 17 experts removed from the vaccine advisory committee this week. 'We are really in uncharted territory here, in terms of the membership changing so radically and so quickly,' Maldonado said. Maldonado explained that the existing process for evaluating vaccine safety and effectiveness is 'incredibly rigorous,' with numerous safety checkpoints. 'Vaccines are foundational to public health,' Maldonado said. 'They save millions of lives.' Reiss added that the United States has a system that allows people who experience problems due to a CDC-recommended vaccine to seek compensation from the government. This limits the liability of vaccine companies. If new advisory committee members remove current vaccine recommendations, Reiss said she is concerned 'that some manufacturers might leave the vaccine market.' In an editorial published Monday in the Wall Street Journal, Secretary Kennedy wrote that the 17 ACIP members were 'retired' because 'the committee has been plagued with persistent conflicts of interest.' Experts roundly disagreed with the claims and numerous medical organizations quickly spoke out. 'That's very telling,' said Catherine Flores, executive director of the California Immunization Coalition, a statewide nonprofit advocacy and education organization around immunizations. While past ACIP vaccine experts were thoroughly vetted, details about the process for the newly announced group aren't clear, Flores said. Flores is concerned some committee members may lack the previous ACIP members' level of expertise about vaccines. 'We are very concerned about what's next,' Flores said.


Fast Company
an hour ago
- Fast Company
After firing entire CDC vaccine committee, RFK Jr. appoints 8 new members including vaccine skeptics: Who they are and what to know
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who heads the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has announced eight new members to the CDC's independent vaccine advisory committee—some who are critical of vaccines—after firing the entire group, prompting questions and concerns. Kennedy said the new members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will be at ACIP's upcoming meeting on June 25 to June 27, which is slated to discuss vaccine recommendations for the HPV vaccine (which the CDC has deemed safe, and prevents cervical cancer and 90% of cancers caused by HPV in females), and of course the COVID-19 vaccine. Those new members are: Joseph R. Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Robert W. Malone, Cody Meissner, James Pagano, Vicky Pebsworth, and Michael A. Ross—some of whom are either close allies of RFK Jr. or vaccine skeptics, according to the BBC. Kulldorff, an epidemiologist and biostatistician, helped write the Great Barrington Declaration, which questioned lockdowns and other public health measures early in the COVID-19 pandemic, per National Public Radio; while Malone worked on mRNA technology for the COVID-19 vaccine early on, then became a critic and made false claims about the shot, also per NPR. Wednesday's move comes just days after Kennedy fired all 17 sitting members of the ACIP, which makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy, and clinical need for the shots, advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the vaccine schedule and required coverage of immunizations. While Kennedy justified the firings, saying in a Wall Street Journal op-ed the panel of esteemed pediatricians, epidemiologists, immunologists, and other physicians was 'plagued with conflicts of interest,' that's questionable. As Fast Company has previously reported, Kennedy has a long history of repeatedly making false claims that have been debunked, and railing against or ranting about vaccines, medical drugs, the health system, and our nation's food. RFK Jr. also has no medical degree, breaking with long-standing tradition for the health secretary post, and his nomination came in a string of controversial picks by Trump for his second term.


CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Maryland holds firm due to new law amid federal vaccine policy shake-up
A Maryland pediatrician is expressing deep concern after U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly dismissed all 17 members of a key federal vaccine advisory panel. On June 9, RFK Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, announced that he had fired the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine policy. The panel was composed of independent medical public health experts who review data and make national immunization recommendations. Concerns after dismissal of federal vaccine advisory panel Experts said Kennedy's move could weaken trust in vaccines and public health infrastructure. "Before this week, we knew that the ACIP was full of epidemiologists, biologists, pediatricians, infectious disease specialists – people who had dedicated years and years, decades of their lives to studying vaccines. Their effectiveness, and really the importance," said Dr. Monique Soileau-Burke, District Vice Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Some fear he may attempt to replace the independent panel with members who share his anti-vaccine views, potentially altering future guidance around immunizations. "We really base our clinical decisions on a daily basis, knowing that that panel is trustworthy and scientific-based research," Dr. Soileau-Burke said. In recent months, Kennedy has also dropped CDC recommendations about routine COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. The decisions prompted backlash from the medical and science communities. Maryland's protections for vaccine access Despite changes at the federal level, Dr. Soileau-Burke said Maryland is better positioned than some other states due to new protections for vaccine access. "In Maryland, we're very lucky in that our state actually recently passed legislation that went into effect on June 1," she said. "Medicaid, private insurances, [and] other providers will have to continue to cover the cost of all the recommended vaccines as of December 31, 2024, that were on the CDC's recommended list. So, in Maryland, I think we're in a better place than a lot of states." The CDC confirmed that ACIP will still hold its planned meeting later in June, though it is expected to be led by new members. Health policy experts said the decision not only risks weakening federal vaccine recommendations but could also slow response times during health threats, especially as the U.S. faces an upcoming school year. Kennedy has claimed that the panel was plagued by "persistent conflicts of interest." Medical organizations, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America, have dismissed those claims as "completely unfounded." Dr. Soileau-Burke emphasized that the stakes are high, not just for individual families, but for entire communities. "We're not just protecting our own children," she said. "We're protecting everyone's children. We're protecting grandmas who might be immunocompromised or other members of our community."