Investigation Update on the Ruby Princess

Cruise Line: Princess Cruises

Cruise Ship: Ruby Princess

Voyage Dates: March 3-10, 2013

Number of passengers who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 266 of 3,129 (8.50%)

Number of crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 10 of 1,189 (.84%)

Predominant symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea

Causative agent: Norovirus

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

• Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan,
• Delayed boarding of new passengers to completed infection control procedures on board,
• Provided written notification of the outbreak to passengers at the embarkation terminal in Fort Lauderdale on 10 March,
• Attempted collection of stool specimens from passenger and crew gastrointestinal illness cases,
• Will begin daily reporting to CDC Vessel Sanitation Program on the new voyage beginning 10 March, 2013.

As this outbreak was only communicated to the Vessel Sanitation Program on 10 March, no on board response was conducted. VSP will review all documentation from this voyage and continue to monitor the ship in the new cruise for any continuation of this outbreak. Any stool samples collected from the current cruise will be sent to the CDC lab for testing.