Cruise ship Norovirus into perspective

[jgsmuzzy]

BBC has just published this article. 100,000 people in the UK are catching the bug a week.

 

Considering how packed together people are on ships, the recent outbreak could have been worse.

 

Also, please note " It is not normally dangerous but the very young and very old are most at risk of complications from dehydration. ". There really seems to be a hysteria on these boards regarding what is really an annoying bug.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7169347.stm

[fllady]

Thank you for posting this information. I agree some people seem to thrive on blowing this bug all out of propotion. Its been around much longer than we have.:D

[ESLO]

Thank you for posting this information. I agree some people seem to thrive on blowing this bug all out of propotion. Its been around much longer than we have.:D

 

Dear flady,

Wishing You A Happy New Year.

 

Yes, this subject is a serious one. Especially here in NYC, we even have a health alert due to the large amount of people visiting the ER's. Each week the number are increasing to the amount of concern. The signs & symptoms are classic Norovirus.

 

I personally work in a Medical Center in Brooklyn that is now on an alert. All unnecessary personnel and hospital volunteers (a true backbone of this hospital) were told to stay away from the hospital for this entire week due to the large amount of sickness coming into the hospital. Limitation of exposure is key to this illness.

 

Yes, if people did all the simple tasks to prevent the spread of this illness (washing hands as often as possible especially after certain everyday tasks), this would help curtail the potential spread to others.

[*Mach*]

BBC has just published this article. 100,000 people in the UK are catching the bug a week.

 

Considering how packed together people are on ships, the recent outbreak could have been worse.

 

Also, please note " It is not normally dangerous but the very young and very old are most at risk of complications from dehydration. ". There really seems to be a hysteria on these boards regarding what is really an annoying bug.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7169347.stm

 

 

I place a great deal of the blame on the media. It seems as though every time there's even a hint of Noro on a ship the media treats it like the plague.

 

Noro is probably more common in every day life than it is aboard ship.

[exlondoner]

I place a great deal of the blame on the media. It seems as though every time there's even a hint of Noro on a ship the media treats it like the plague.

 

Noro is probably more common in every day life than it is aboard ship.

 

I'm sure you are right. but 'dozens confined to cabins' is so much more sensational than 'people take two days off work'. Jane

[*Mach*]

I'm sure you are right. but 'dozens confined to cabins' is so much more sensational than 'people take two days off work'. Jane

 

You're spot on, Jane.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I'm sure you are right. but 'dozens confined to cabins' is so much more sensational than 'people take two days off work'. Jane

 

Plus, being sick while on vacation is much worse than having to take two days off from work (assuming one has paid sick days). If you call in sick at work because you have a 'stomach bug,' nobody pays much attention. But if you're sick on a cruise and miss meals, it gets noticed. In these days of instant communication, three sick passengers get 'reported' to friends back home as a massive epidemic.

 

Kathy

[fllady]

Dear flady,

Wishing You A Happy New Year.

 

Yes, this subject is a serious one. Especially here in NYC, we even have a health alert due to the large amount of people visiting the ER's. Each week the number are increasing to the amount of concern. The signs & symptoms are classic Norovirus.

 

I personally work in a Medical Center in Brooklyn that is now on an alert. All unnecessary personnel and hospital volunteers (a true backbone of this hospital) were told to stay away from the hospital for this entire week due to the large amount of sickness coming into the hospital. Limitation of exposure is key to this illness.

 

Yes, if people did all the simple tasks to prevent the spread of this illness (washing hands as often as possible especially after certain everyday tasks), this would help curtail the potential spread to others.

 

Sorry :( I wasn't trying to make light of it. I used to live in NYC and know how it can spread very fast. What I was talking about was on the cruise ships. Should have made myself clearer. We were on Century when the Noro had been on the cruise before us making a TA, the posts were sounding bad at times, but when we boarded they were taking every precaution to clean it up. Like you say if only people would follow a few rules of sanitation, but we still saw people go into the bathrooms and leave without washing up.

I also agree, the media does play a big part in it too. We have been on 3 cruises that had Noro aboard and never have gotten sick..

[London]

Jane and Kathy, you're both correct.

 

Unfortunately, today's stories about the latest UK and New York outbreaks on land will fade away in a couple of days and then the next ship to get norovirus will be back in the headlines.

 

If land establishments - businesses, hotels, resorts - had the same obligation as cruise ships to report relatively minor outbreaks, it would just be an everyday matter - and that's not news. But they don't, so it is.

 

I was a national newspaper executive for many years, and have been a cruising fan for the last decade or so - I had (and lost) this debate in the office every time a "cruise from hell" story came in. "We're selling papers, not cruises," was the answer every time. Colleagues on many other papers - including some in the US - have had the same arguments.

 

There's also a degree of "encouraging envy". It's why every cruise with a problem is reported as a "luxury" cruise. The vast majority of readers are not on a cruise, but they can take pleasure in knowing that those flash rich people on their luxury cruise aren't having a nice time. The papers know this and pander to it.

[dak]

Jane and Kathy, you're both correct.

 

Unfortunately, today's stories about the latest UK and New York outbreaks on land will fade away in a couple of days and then the next ship to get norovirus will be back in the headlines.

 

If land establishments - businesses, hotels, resorts - had the same obligation as cruise ships to report relatively minor outbreaks, it would just be an everyday matter - and that's not news. But they don't, so it is.

 

I was a national newspaper executive for many years, and have been a cruising fan for the last decade or so - I had (and lost) this debate in the office every time a "cruise from hell" story came in. "We're selling papers, not cruises," was the answer every time. Colleagues on many other papers - including some in the US - have had the same arguments.

 

There's also a degree of "encouraging envy". It's why every cruise with a problem is reported as a "luxury" cruise. The vast majority of readers are not on a cruise, but they can take pleasure in knowing that those flash rich people on their luxury cruise aren't having a nice time. The papers know this and pander to it.

 

Possibly the most sensible and balanced Sun report I've ever read. :D Thank you London.

 

David

[ESLO]

Unfortunately, today's stories about the latest UK and New York outbreaks on land will fade away in a couple of days and then the next ship to get norovirus will be back in the headlines.

 

I was a national newspaper executive for many years, and have been a cruising fan for the last decade or so..

 

The vast majority of readers are not on a cruise, but they can take pleasure in knowing that those flash rich people on their luxury cruise aren't having a nice time.

 

Dear London,

Wishing You A Happy New Year!

 

In response to some of your comments. I TRULY do not believe that this story of Norovirus in NYC especially will fade away in the next few days. Since the course of the illness takes time, hoping for no relapse or hospitalization, it will continue for Some Time...

 

As a Medical Center worker, I experience this first hand and see and hear the results of this illness. Even hearing of it, of those at homes, makes one to feel compassion for them. Unfortunately, it takes one to experience it to understand it.

 

This years Norovirus attack especially in NYC, has been terms particular nasty and concerning to Health Care Providers & Professionals.

 

As a avid cruise fan, you should understand like all your fellow Cruise Critics, what an interruption to a cruise with sickness means after all the anticipation leading up to the trip. I do wish you as all our fellow Cruise Critics, a safe and healthy voyage and return.

 

Unfortunately, I do feel for those stories on our tv news shows and newspapers of ships either returning to the Port of New York or elsewhere, with passengers that have had their voyages interrupted by a incident like illness/sickness.

 

Also, not all cruisers are Flash Rich People. I wish I was one so I wouldn't be wishing for the "Upgrade Fairy" to visit but beable to pay for it myself. Those coming off of these ill faded trips as seen on tv, are regular people unfortunately inconvenienced by the circumstances. I hope they will return to cruising once again in the future.

[calikak]

I have some coworkers who refuse to cruise because they think the ships are floating incubators of disease. They also believe that they'll be murdered and their body will be dumped overboard. There is no reasoning with someone whose worldview is shaped solely by tabloid news.

 

I think I had norovirus last weekend, or if it wasn't, it was some other awful stomach bug. It ruined my weekend, and I can see how it could ruin someone's vacation. I want to find the person who spread it around and "thank" them. My guess is that it came from someone not washing their hands after going to the bathroom at my office, thereby leaving their nasty germs on the door handles.

[Anteeta]

My guess is that it came from someone not washing their hands after going to the bathroom at my office, thereby leaving their nasty germs on the door handles.

 

Yes, I suspect you're correct; and the answer to avoiding the bug is to use paper towels to touch door handles or cleanse hands after handling and before transferring bug to self or other 'transporters'. It's a basic hygiene issue. We were aboard during a large noro outbreak, and didn't succumb, but followed normal and sensible precautions to minimise the risk.

[Jim Avery]

It is my understanding that passenger carrying vessels are the only ones required to report Noro outbreaks and statistics. That is senseless but there you are. I agree with other posters, if hotels, trains, busses, etc. were required to report the same cases (not to mention that 500mph petri dish, airplanes) there would be untold daily accountings and would soon become non news. The stuff is everywhere. Like was said above, wash your hands and use common sense.

Jim. (26 cruises and no Noro)

[calikak]

Yes, I suspect you're correct; and the answer to avoiding the bug is to use paper towels to touch door handles or cleanse hands after handling and before transferring bug to self or other 'transporters'. It's a basic hygiene issue. We were aboard during a large noro outbreak, and didn't succumb, but followed normal and sensible precautions to minimise the risk.

 

Yes, I do the paper towel thing too. I guess in this case I wasn't careful enough in how I held the paper towel...or it came from some other source, who knows. I even keep a bottle of instant hand sanitizer on my desk (my son was a preemie and this is his first flu season, so I am germ-phobic), and yet, I still got sick. I think one can take precautions, but eventually we all slip up.

[smeyer418]

this one says 200,000 a week...

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,320009,00.html

 

I guess you either believe the BBC or Fox news....

[travel-to-go]

Eslo,

I understand what London was saying. He is saying that the READERS are envious of the fact that these people are on a cruise, so it's the old sour grapes (or some correlary) kicking it.

I think it is reportable in some other cases (I'd have to check the CDC web site) Think though, if you got sick in your office, or in an airplane. How long to incubate before you would know it (particularly an airplane) everyone would be scattered before anyone knew and pulled it all together.

 

The same thing happens with e coli outbreaks, and restaurants that have a problem. It has ruined many very compliant (with health regs) restaurants who got tainted by a scare. And it's probably better that we don't know what else goes on in some places, or even what the laws say about how much of a foreign substance (unnamed- there are many which are spelled out) can be in your cheerios.

 

We recently had an outbreak here (and around the US several places) of school-borne MRSA (Methycillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) . My father died of MRSA. I learned so much about it in such a short time. It is becoming increasingly common that there are cases of what is termed "community based MRSA." And BTW, while we are on the subjects, these super bugs have developed in part because people demand a pill for everything. They want antibiotics for a viral infection. And remember that some precautions don't work for each type of infection.

 

Well, I guess I have been very lucky. I take my flu shot every year, I do pneumo-vax and I rarely get sick, especially stomach viruses. (No bug would DARE go near this stomach!)

 

Thanks for keeping it civil, all!

 

Karie

[EMSOMICH]

There are some very interesting comments here. When my friend and I returned from our 55 days of the World Cruise on the QE2, it was surprising how often the first comment was that there had been 300 people ill on the ship. I remember the press waiting when we docked in San Francisco as they were waiting for "this ship with so many people sick on board that was docking in San Fransisco. I boarded in LA where everyone had had to get off the ship while it was defumigated so by the time we reached San Francisco, it was all over! I did not speak to anyone who had been ill.

 

I am more concerned about the bug in hospitals where people are coming and going all the time.

 

Maureen

 

Maureen

[cinta]

BBC has just published this article. 100,000 people in the UK are catching the bug a week.

 

Considering how packed together people are on ships, the recent outbreak could have been worse.

 

Also, please note " It is not normally dangerous but the very young and very old are most at risk of complications from dehydration. ". There really seems to be a hysteria on these boards regarding what is really an annoying bug.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7169347.stm

Not on these boards, but in the Daily Mail!! Which I actually buy:rolleyes: :rolleyes: . How sad:eek:

Sharon

[Boytjie]

Yes, if people did all the simple tasks to prevent the spread of this illness (washing hands as often as possible especially after certain everyday tasks), this would help curtail the potential spread to others.

 

And those that are sick/contagious should refrain from going out in public.

[cinta]

Eslo,

I understand what London was saying. He is saying that the READERS are envious of the fact that these people are on a cruise, so it's the old sour grapes (or some correlary) kicking it.

I think it is reportable in some other cases (I'd have to check the CDC web site) Think though, if you got sick in your office, or in an airplane. How long to incubate before you would know it (particularly an airplane) everyone would be scattered before anyone knew and pulled it all together.

 

The same thing happens with e coli outbreaks, and restaurants that have a problem. It has ruined many very compliant (with health regs) restaurants who got tainted by a scare. And it's probably better that we don't know what else goes on in some places, or even what the laws say about how much of a foreign substance (unnamed- there are many which are spelled out) can be in your cheerios.

 

We recently had an outbreak here (and around the US several places) of school-borne MRSA (Methycillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) . My father died of MRSA. I learned so much about it in such a short time. It is becoming increasingly common that there are cases of what is termed "community based MRSA." And BTW, while we are on the subjects, these super bugs have developed in part because people demand a pill for everything. They want antibiotics for a viral infection. And remember that some precautions don't work for each type of infection.

 

Well, I guess I have been very lucky. I take my flu shot every year, I do pneumo-vax and I rarely get sick, especially stomach viruses. (No bug would DARE go near this stomach!)

 

Thanks for keeping it civil, all!

 

Karie

You are right about the antibiotics Karie!!

Sharon

[Boytjie]

I'm sure you are right. but 'dozens confined to cabins' is so much more sensational than 'people take two days off work'. Jane

 

How about the British name for it: Winter Vomiting Bug! More colourful than norovirus.

[highcbob]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4088324