outbreaks

A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus has resulted in the deaths of three people aboard a cruise ship, leaving at least two others seriously ill this week, according to national media.

Two of the three people who died as a result of the suspected outbreak have been identified as an elderly married couple from the Netherlands. The 70-year-old husband died on the ship and his body was removed in the British territory of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, according to the Associated Press. His wife is said to have collapsed while at a South African airport with a planned flight to return home. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she died. The body of the third patient who died was still aboard the ship and no names of any of the three victims was reported as of Monday, April 4, according to media.

At least one of the three patients was in intensive care at a hospital in South Africa, World Health Organization officials told AP reporters. As of Monday, April 4, only one case has been confirmed. An investigation is ongoing.

A Royal Caribbean ship scored just one point above “unsatisfactory” in a recent health inspection conducted by the Centers for Disease Control; now ship officials are working to fix the issue.

In February, Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas had its regular health inspection in which inspectors found over 50 hygiene and safety protocol violations, according to media reports. The violations included improper food storage and crew members handling ice with open forearm wounds. Youth programs also failed to properly report children with GI symptoms, a cause for concern given news reports of a recent string of norovirus outbreaks on ships.

Typically, cruise lines must score above an 85 to pass evaluations. Symphony of the Seas narrowly passed the threshold with a score of 86, according to media reporting. To correct the issues, the cruise line alleges some of the steps taken included retraining employees and amending standard operating procedures related to food storage and reporting illnesses in youth centers.

Articles Tagged with outbreaks

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