Investigation Update on the ms Veendam

Cruise Line: Holland America Line

Cruise Ship: ms Veendam

Voyage Dates: February 8-22, 2014

Number of passengers who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 114 of 1273 (8.96%)

Number of crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 10 of 575 (1.74%)

Predominant symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea

Causative agent: Norovirus

Actions: In response to the outbreak, Holland America Line and the crew aboard the ship took the following actions:

• Increasing cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan,
• Making announcements to notify onboard passengers of the outbreak, encourage case reporting, and encourage hand hygiene,
• Collecting stool specimens from ill passengers and crew and made plans to send them to the CDC lab,
• Making twice daily reports of gastrointestinal illness cases to the VSP,
• Is consulting with CDC on plans for their comprehensive sanitation procedures in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on February 22, 2014, including
  • providing additional cleaning crew to complete a thorough public and accommodation super-sanitization cleaning and disinfection,
  • planning staged disembarkation for active cases to limit the opportunity of illness transmission to well guests, and
  • planning for sanitation of terminal and transport infection control procedures.

A CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officer and an epidemiologist will board the ship on arrival in Ft. Lauderdale on February 22, 2014 to conduct an environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. Stool specimens are being collected and will be shipped to the CDC lab for testing.