France Confines Over 1,700 Passengers On British Cruise Ship Over Gastroenteritis Outbreak
More than 1,700 passengers and crew on a British cruise ship have been ordered to remain on board after an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness, according to French authorities.
The authorities immediately dismissed any link to the deadly hantavirus outbreak on another vessel that has put European health authorities on high alert.
The Ambition ship was halfway through a 14-night cruise from Belfast and Liverpool and was due to take in ports in northern Spain and along France’s Atlantic coast, AP reports.
The ship reached Bordeaux on Tuesday evening, according to the operator Ambassador Cruise Line.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is tracking outbreaks on voyages that call on US and foreign ports, recorded 23 gastrointestinal outbreaks on cruise ships last year. Many of those were caused by norovirus.
Last week, a Caribbean Princess cruise ship reported another norovirus outbreak during a voyage with over 3,100 passengers, according to the CDC.
Over 140 passengers and 15 crewmembers got sick during the trip, which officially ended on Monday, the agency said.
The prefect of Nouvelle-Aquitaine region and Gironde department, Étienne Guyot, officially suspended the disembarkation from the Ambition and restricted the ships interactions with the port of Bordeaux.
According to a joint statement, Guyot acted on the recommendation of the regional health agency, the Agence Régionale de Santé Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
Up to 50 passengers showed symptoms consistent with acute digestive infection after the ship’s captain alerted French authorities on Tuesday evening.
Those impacted were treated by the ship’s doctor and isolated within their cabins. A medical team was also dispatched to the ship and samples are currently being analyzed at the Bordeaux hospital.
“There is no reason to establish a link between this outbreak aboard a cruise ship from Belfast and Liverpool and the hantavirus cases detected aboard the MV Hondius,” the joint statement said.
The hantavirus outbreak aboard the Hondius last month prompted a multicountry response and the hospitalization of passengers in Britain, France, Spain, and the US. Three passengers have passed away and there have been nine confirmed cases.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
