Investigation Update on the Coral Princess

Cruise Line: Princess Cruises

Cruise Ship: Coral Princess

Voyage Dates: April 12-27, 2015

Number of passengers who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 99 of 1,958 (5.06%)

Number of crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 12 of 881 (1.36%)

Predominant symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea

Causative agent: Norovirus

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

• Increasing cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan,
• Making announcements to notify onboard passengers and crew of the outbreak, encourage case reporting, and encourage good hand hygiene,
• Collected stool specimens from passenger and crew gastrointestinal illness cases for testing by CDC,
• Making twice daily reports of gastrointestinal illness cases to the VSP,
• Sending corporate environmental health manager to assist the onboard management with infection control response plan,
• Is consulting with CDC on plans for their comprehensive sanitation procedures in Los Angeles, CA on April 27, 2015, including:
  • 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.

One CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officer will board the ship in Los Angeles, CA on April 27, 2015 to conduct an environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. Specimens have been collected and tested onboard using a norovirus rapid test; results were positive for norovirus. The specimens will be sent to CDC for additional testing.