Investigation Update on the Celebrity Mercury

Cruise Line: Celebrity Cruises

Cruise Ship: Celebrity Mercury

Voyage Dates: 1/3-1/17

Number of passengers who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers: 150 of 1842 (8.14%)

Number of ill crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew: 7 of 859 (0.81%)

Predominant symptoms: diarrhea and vomiting

Actions: In response to the outbreak, Celebrity Cruises and the crew aboard the ship took the following actions:

• increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak response plan,
• sent twice daily updates to CDC,
• sent clinical and public health specialists to the ship for additional support,
• notified passengers onboard the ship,
• collected stool specimens for analysis,
• notified oncoming passengers,
• delayed embarkation for the next voyage,
• staffed the ship with an additional cleaning crew in Fort Lauderdale.

A CDC public health investigation team boarded the ship on January 10th in Puntarenas, Costa Rica to conduct an epidemiologic investigation and evaluate the ship's infection control procedures. The CDC team sailed through the remainder of the voyage. The voyage began in San Diego, CA on January 3rd and concluded in Fort Lauderdale, FL on January 17th.