Thursday, January 30, 2014

Princess Cruises ship returns early for fog, ill passengers aboard

AUSTIN, Texas Thu Jan 30, 2014 8:40pm EST





<span id="articleText"/>AUSTIN, Texas Jan 30 (Reuters) - A Princess Cruises ship, owned by Carnival Corp, will be met by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team that will investigate an outbreak of a virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea when it rolls into the port of Houston on Friday, a day early after the trip was cut short by fog, the company said.



<span id="midArticle_0"/>The Caribbean Princess, with about 3,100 passengers and 1,150 crew members will be sanitized before its next scheduled departure on Feb. 1, the company said.



<span id="midArticle_1"/>"Approximately three passengers have current active symptoms of norovirus, and over the course of the cruise 165 passengers reported ill to the medical center," it said in a statement.



<span id="midArticle_2"/>The outbreak comes after a Royal Caribbean cruise ship this week cut short its Caribbean cruise after more than 600 people became sick with a gastrointestinal illness. .



<span id="midArticle_3"/>The Royal Caribbean cruise line said it believes the illnesses are consistent with norovirus, a highly contagious virus spread from an infected person, contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).



<span id="midArticle_4"/>CDC spokesman Llelwyn Grant said two CDC vessel sanitation and health officers will board the ship in Houston to investigate the outbreak and the response of the ship's management.



<span id="midArticle_5"/>Specimens will be sent to CDC labs for testing.



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