I’ve always wondered why this doesn’t take out similar closed communities (schools, etc). Why only on the cruise ships?
“Why only on the cruise ships?”
Noro and similar viruses are not “tracked” in the USA. There have been several cases where norovirus hits a school and a large number of people get sick. It will get written up in a local paper if noted at all, and rarely makes national news.
A cruise ship, though, involves contracts and money and many people complaining about their vacation being ruined.
For a ship, they pretty much wipe the whole thing with bleach.
ThePatriotsFlag wrote: “I’ve always wondered why this doesn’t take out similar closed communities (schools, etc). Why only on the cruise ships?”
Well, actually it does. This isn’t some obscure illness peculiar to cruise lines. It’s the same stuff your kids bring home from school.
Norovirus Is the Most Common Cause of Gastroenteritis in the U.S. CDC estimates that each year in the United States norovirus causes 19 to 21 million illnesses, 56,000 to 71,000 hospitalizations, and 570 to 800 deaths. Anyone can get infected with norovirus, and you can get it more than once.
Cruise ships are required by law to report instances most other locations do not.
Schools and nursing homes see it, too.
As DBrow stated, it’s not just cruises. It’s quite common and does only make the news when there’s an “outbreak,” typically in a hospital setting, but anywhere enough people with sensitive immune systems are in a group setting.
My research on health is enlightening in this respect, as it’s no longer just those with compromised systems which are susceptible, but broad demographics. Though I’m sure a large percentage of the small segment of the affected group on that ship may be of the prior (elderly, compromised immune systems, etc.) the reason more people don’t catch it is that these bugs have always been out there...people are just more sensitive to them now.
This is an endemic health problem which will never be treated by orthodox medicine’s approach and will only be addressed when the truth behind the rising incidence of evidence to the collective decline of public health in this country is finally made clear (probably not in my lifetime...this is a “control” issue). Even in the absence of my books being published - pardon the cliche’ - the truth is out there...my experience demonstrates that most people simply don’t want to know until they have an impetus to do so (disease, etc...when it’s too late).
Frequency of ailments which are self-treated with OTC medications is a red flag, as are the infections of this group of people (other than the aged...which probably comprised the majority of those affected).
The food on cruise ships is susceptible to the same bacterial contamination that causes "Montezuma's Revenge" throughout central and south America.
The fact that the illness was short lived and treated with antibiotics is evidence that it wasn't a virus.....
My brother-in-law is a doctor here in Michigan and he's originally from Honduras. Our family has taken numerous vacations with him to Honduras. As a precaution, he takes a supply of antibiotic pills that everyone takes when they first start to experience the symptoms of stomach distress or diarrhea. The drug knocks it out immediately.
Ever wonder why the citizens of the south American countries don't get sick? It's because their bodies have built up immunity to the bacteria that causes those symptoms.
Conversely, when relatives of his would come to the U.S. to visit, often they would experience the same symptoms because they weren't immune to the stomach bacteria that we are...
Remember that old saying that if you're going to central America "don't drink the water"?. That holds true but unfortunately you can't do anything about the fresh foods that are washed in the water that you're not supposed to drink.....LOL!
Schools shut down during winter flu outbreaks due to close quarters. With cruise ships, it’s probably due to tainted crab dip.
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ALL “closed environments” are susceptible to this spreading like wildfire. It has in our schools.
The big thing with ships is:
a) truly contained and closed environment - people are there all day and night together with only a little outlet to outside world. Schools not as bad, e.g., because people aren’t there at night; shops not as bad as any because it’s constant in and out with all kinds of different people, not the same people bringing something from home.
b) exposure to 3rd-world hellholes. I never understand why people think these places are “paradise”. Many are beautiful for the nature, but the people stink it up with their crap, literally and figuratively.
I'm a pediatric ER nurse, and I can tell you with absolute authority that schools are not safe from this. Last winter three public schools in my area were shut down because of norovirus outbreaks and had to be "sanitized". It was bad.
We had rooms with two, three, and sometimes four or five siblings (and sometimes their parents who became symptomatic) being treated for the bug. It was just bloody awful.
One of my daughters was a league volleyball player. Every year there was a norovirus outbreak at one of the events. Last year it got so bad at the local schools they sprayed and wiped down entire school buildings. I think the outbreaks just don’t get much press.
Might it have anything to do with their being in international waters, where U.S. law doesn’t apply?