Investigation Update on the Star Princess

Cruise Line: Princess Cruises

Cruise Ship: Star Princess

Voyage Dates: April 29 – May 14, 2015

Number of passengers who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 135 of 2,588 (5.22%)

Number of crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 16 of 1,093 (1.46%)

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 San Francisco, CA on May 14, 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.

Two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers and two Epidemiologists will board the ship in San Francisco, CA on May 14, 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.