MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Norovirus again attacks “Vision of the Seas” cruise in Brazil

“Vision of the Seas” caters for the Brazilian market

Royal Caribbean’s cruise vessel “Vision of the Seas” which last week was struck with an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness has again suffered a similar bout while sailing along the Atlantic coast of South America, according to a Brazilian health officials.

This time however the number of sick passengers is 47 compared to the 227 and 38 crewmembers of the previous time which forced Brazilian authorities to briefly place the vessel under quarantine.
“At least 47 passengers on the “Vision of the Seas”, operated by Royal Caribbean International, were stricken by what we believe are noroviruses that cause gastroenteritis” a spokesperson for the National Agency for Sanitary Vigilance said.

The ship which on Friday docked in the port of Santos was not placed under quarantine and the nearly 2,000 passengers aboard were allowed to leave since “no one was seriously ill and there was no danger of the disease spreading.”

The ship will be cleansed again “but now that we are pretty sure that noroviruses are again to blame, we know what kind of cleaning agents to use” the spokesperson said.

Norovirus cause gastroenteritis, a common inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Typically it is not life threatening and does not generally cause long-term effects. In rare cases, the elderly and young children can die from dehydration.

The first case was detected Wednesday when the ship was heading to Santos, its last stop on a weeklong cruise. Royal Caribbean spokesperson Alexandre Raith said most passengers were Brazilian.

A statement by Royal Caribbean confirmed the number of stricken passengers but provided no detailed explanation on how gastroenteritis struck the same ship twice in a week.