Investigation Update on the Dawn Princess

Cruise Line: Princess Cruises

Cruise Ship: Dawn Princess

Voyage Dates: August 21 - September 13, 2012

Number of passengers who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 114 of 1,778 (6.41%)

Number of crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 11 of 851 (1.29%)

Predominant symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea

Causative agent: Norovirus

Actions: In response to the outbreak, Princess Cruises and the crew aboard the ship have taken the following actions:

• Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan,
• Made announcements to notify onboard passengers of the outbreak, encourage case reporting, and encourage hand hygiene,
• Collected stool specimens from ill passengers and crew, tested the specimens onboard using a rapid Norovirus test, and made plans to send them to the CDC lab,
• Made twice daily reports of gastrointestinal illness cases to the VSP,
• Has deployed a public health officer from the corporate office to supervise implementation of the ship’s response plan,
• Is consulting with CDC on plans for their super sanitation procedures in Seward, AK.

Two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers will board the ship on arrival in Juneau, AK on September 7, 2012 to conduct an environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. Stool specimens will be sent to the CDC lab for confirmatory testing and genome sequencing.