Cruise passenger identified as virus cause

A cruise ship operator is blaming a passenger for the spread of a vomiting bug on board.

Travel Insurance News - 10/09/2009

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More than 90 people on the Fred Olsen Cruise Lines ship Balmoral, now anchored off Mull, have fallen ill with the norovirus.

The cruise operator has said that a woman passenger, boarding on Saturday at Dover, was thought to be the source of virus.

According to a Fred Olsen spokesman, the passenger was confined to her cabin by the ship’s doctor, but ignored that advice and spread the bug to dozens of others on board.

Nigel Lingard, marketing director for the cruise line, said: “We know the exact cause in this case. A lady who came on board at Dover was presented with illness. The doctor confined her to a cabin.”

He went on to say: “Unfortunately she chose the break that understanding and went out in public and was ill, and spread the illness rapidly.”

Lingard noted that only a small percentage of the 1,800 people on board had been affected. It is believed that 87 passengers and four crew members have the bug and 79 of them have been confined to their quarters.

Lingard added: “We have very rigorous health procedures. We go to a Code Red health scenario and control things like access to buffets to cut down the spread of illness.”

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