Cruise ship outbreak sickens 212

CNN ^ | 10 Dec 2002

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

want to out...want to be out. Sorry.

[Publius6961]

BUMP

[fivecatsandadog]

I agree. Since 9/11, there are definite boundaries that I won't cross. My question, though, was aimed more towards our Homeland Security office, the INS, FBI, etc.. I hope that at least one of our federal agencies looks at this cruise-ship virus thing and other similar or curious incidents, and says "yeah, that could happen - how easy would it be for a terrorist group to pull this off? What do we need to do to keep it from becoming reality?"

[nicmarlo]

... I hope that at least one of our federal agencies looks at this cruise-ship virus thing and other similar or curious incidents, and says "yeah, that could happen - how easy would it be for a terrorist group to pull this off?

Fivecats, I found this article and it seems like the CDC is doing everything it can to make it appear as though the outbreaks have been occurring all along, they just haven't paid as much attention to it before. Their other explanation is that people are simply being selfish, knowingly boarding cruise ships while sick, so they don't miss out on the planned vacations. How's that for taking a serious look into possible terrorist activites?

Cruise ship illnesses tripled in 2002

CDC: People, not food, usually to blame for stomach ailment outbreaks

By Candace Rondeaux
St. Petersburg Times

. . . There may be more than one explanation for the spike in outbreaks, said Elaine Cramer, a CDC vessel sanitation program epidemiologist. She said heightened awareness of virus symptoms on board cruise ships and improvements in surveillance techniques could have contributed to the increase in reported outbreaks.

"Prior to 2001, we had a narrower definition of the symptoms in an outbreak. We limited our definition to diarrhea, " Cramer said. "But we discovered that certainly there were a great number of passengers who experience vomiting as well as diarrhea."

Cramer and other CDC officials said passengers, not food or water, were the likely culprit in many of the outbreaks. Many passengers may have been sick before boarding the cruise ships but didn't want to miss out on their vacation or be confined to their cabins, Cramer said. . . .

[snip]

[nicmarlo]

FYI:

Canadian hospitals reeling from stomach virus
-----------------------------------------------------------
Last Updated: 2002-12-11 10:01:32 -0400 (Reuters Health)

TORONTO (Reuters) - The stomach bug suspected of sickening hundreds of passengers on international cruise ships has also struck Canadian medical facilities in what doctors said on Tuesday could be the worst outbreak of the Norwalk virus in two decades.

At least 50 Toronto health care facilities [up from 11 hospitals] have reported outbreaks that have required shutting down parts of the hospital or the emergency room.

The virus, which causes violent stomach flu, often strikes during the winter in North America and doctors said this year's attack is more powerful, though they don't know why.

* * *

The virus has come under suspicion for causing severe but short-lived intestinal illnesses that have felled up to 1,000 passengers traveling on cruise liners such as the British cruise ship Oceana, Disney's Magic and Carnival Fascination.

[keats5]

Who knows if it's relevant, but in my daughter's second grade class, this Wednesday, 8 out of 21 kids were absent due to a "stomach flu".

[fivecatsandadog]

Thanks for the ping, nicmarlo.... It appears that not enough public officials are taking this outbreak seriously. All that I'm hearing sounds like excuses, speculation and complacency.

[nicmarlo]

We'll only know if it's relevant if many many kids get sick, across the country, or at least in a large area, IMHO. I think it would look even more relevant if there were many areas coming down at the same time across the country (of course, they'd say that person A got sick in place A (where there are outbreaks), flew to place B and got person B infected, where outbreaks begin to occur, then person C flies from place B to place D, infecting others. (But if everything happens simultaneously, they couldn't blame it on individuals unknowningly infecting others while traveling.) Keep us posted about your area, though, if you start hearing about a crisis or they're reporting anything usual.

[nicmarlo]

"All that I'm hearing sounds like excuses, speculation and complacency."

Unfortunately, that's their M.O. I know this, second-hand, through Dr. Lorraine Day, M.D., with her fights with them over the false information that have been and continue to disseminate to the public regarding A.I.D.S.