Suspected norovirus outbreak kills cruise passenger leaving 1700 quarantined on ship
More than 1,500 passengers are stuck on a cruise ship after a suspected norovirus outbreak, after a passenger died. The Ambassador Cruise Line ship is now docked in Bordeaux, France.More than 50 people have reported symptoms of the highly contagious virus on board the vessel, known as the Ambition, The Mirror reports. Over 1,700 passengers and crew aboard the vessel have been confined after a 90-year-old woman died, health officials have said.The first signs of any symptoms among passengers had been recorded on May 11, Bordeaux officials said. Norovirus is a form of gastroenteritis which causes vomiting and diarrhoea, health officials have stated.The local Gironde prefecture said in a statement today: “According to information relayed last night by the ship's captain, up to fifty passengers experienced symptoms consistent with an acute gastrointestinal infection. These passengers were immediately attended to by the ship's doctor and isolated in their cabins.“A medical team, supervised by the maritime medical coordination service and under the authority of the maritime prefect, was dispatched on board to assess the health situation. Samples are currently being taken by the infectious diseases department of the Bordeaux University Hospital.”Authorities said health management protocols had been activated, adding this virus was not related to the hantavirus outbreak which claimed the lives of several passengers on a separate cruise.The ship, had left the Shetland Islands on May 6, before stopping in Belfast, Liverpool and Brest in France and reaching Bordeaux, from where it was scheduled to depart for Spain today.It is unclear how long those aboard, thought to be mostly British and Irish passengers, may be stranded in France. Officials said the incident is not related in any way to the hantavirus outbreak on a separate cruise ship.Want to see more of the stories you love from Dublin Live? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives... To add us as a preferred source, simply click here.
