CDC Reports That Over 300 People Have Fallen Ill on The Ruby Princess Cruise Ship

Over 300 passengers and crew members have fallen ill aboard The Ruby Princess ship operated by Princess Cruises.

On February 26, the agency confirmed that 284 passengers and 34 crew members had symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea.

The CDC said on its website that the “(Vessel Sanitation Program) epidemiologists and environmental health officers conducted a field response in Galveston, Texas, on March 5.”

A spokesperson for the CDC said while on board, they made “a targeted environmental health assessment to check for exposure and routes of illness transmission and monitored the ship’s outbreak prevention and response plan procedures.”

The cases were likely caused by norovirus, a Princess spokesperson told USA TODAY in an emailed statement.  According to the CDC, there is no definitive diagnosis.

“At the first sign of an increase in the numbers of passengers reporting to the medical center with gastrointestinal illness, we immediately initiated additional enhanced sanitization procedures to interrupt the person-to-person spread of this virus,” the Princess spokesperson said.

The VSP will include actions like cleaning high-touch areas like railings and elevator buttons, quarantining sick passengers until they are no longer contagious, and giving “regular verbal and written communication to passengers about steps they can take to stay well while onboard.”

Before its next sailing, Ruby Princess will undergo a thorough disinfection.  The ship is currently on a week-long Western Caribbean voyage, returning to Galveston on March 12.