Norovirus hits cruise ship, may be new strain

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Norovirus hits cruise ship, may be new strain

Updated Thu. Jan. 25 2007 9:48 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff

With yet another report of an outbreak of norovirus, this time on a

cruise ship, there are some disease experts who are wondering whether

the virus affecting so many this year is a new strain.

The latest outbreak involves the famed Queen 2 cruise ship,

where almost one in five of the ship's 1,600 passengers have fallen

ill with the highly contagious stomach bug.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 276

passengers and 28 crew members have come down with norovirus since Jan. 8.

The ship's operators believe that a passenger who boarded the ship in

New York likely brought the bug aboard.

It's just the latest outbreak of a nasty strain of norovirus that has

been causing severe stomach illness across Canada and the northeastern

U.S., in an outbreak that health officials are calling one of the

worst in years.

It has affected hospitals, nursing homes and other health facilities,

hitting patients with severe diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach

cramps that can last several days.

The virus is suspected to be a new strain of Norwalk, a virus within

the norovirus group.

" There's a debate as to whether it's a more virulent strain in terms

of its ability to infect a greater percentage of people in a given

outbreak, " infectious disease expert Neil Rau told Canada AM.

" Even this Queen 2 outbreak, you have about 17 per cent of

the people affected on that ship -- that's more than the usual say

five to 10 per cent that is sometimes described. "

Rau points out that cruise ships are ideal breeding grounds for

noroviruses because of the close quarters.

" You've got elevator buttons, staircase rails, buffet spoons, common

bathrooms. So if one person is sick, they can contaminate an entire

bathroom, " he says.

" Noroviruses are really hard to disinfect from surfaces. You can get

it not just from person-to-person contact but by touching common

surfaces. "

" You need great cleaning to get rid of it and there's only so much

that's practical, unless you have amazing staffing ratios where you

can have people cleaning a bathroom every hour. "

CDC officials boarded the QE2 on Friday in Acapulco, Mexico, to

investigate the outbreak. They determined the emergency sanitation

measures put in place by the ship's crew, from disinfecting casino

chips to halting self-service at the ship's buffet, were containing

the outbreak. The ship is now on its way to Hawaii.

Rau points out that there is little that can be done to treat a

norovirus infection beyond offering comfort.

" We call it supportive care, which is a way of saying, 'Just hang if

there and we'll make you feel better.' "

He says the bigger risk for the elderly -- who are often the most

common patron of cruises -- is dehydration, especially when

temperatures in tropical areas can reach above 30 degrees Celsius.

Beyond the usual advice of thoroughly washing your hands often, there

is no clinical way to prevent norovirus.

" There's no vaccine that's going to be available because it's not just

one virus, it's a group of viruses and they shift a little bit each

year or drift away each year, " he says.

" So an infection this year doesn't mean you're going to be protected

even six months from now. It's a very short-term immunity. "

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