Over 140 people aboard Royal Carribean cruise sickened by gastrointestinal illness

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A gastrointestinal illness has sickened over 140 people aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a press release issued by the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) on Wednesday, 134 passengers and seven crew members fell ill after an outbreak was reported on July 11 on the Navigator of the Seas.

The CDC said the cruise had 3,914 passengers and 1,266 crew aboard.

The ship was on a seven-day trip, departing from Los Angeles on July 4 with three stops in Mexico, according to cruise tracking site CruiseMapper. The ship returned to L.A. on the day when the outbreak was reported.

Symptoms of the illness include diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps, said the CDC.

In response to the outbreak, the health agency said Royal Caribbean reported increased cleaning and disinfection procedures, collected stool specimens from gastrointestinal illness cases for testing, and isolated sick guests and crew among other measures.

“The health and safety of our guests, crew, and the communities we visit are our top priority,” a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean Group said in a statement to USA Today.

“To maintain an environment that supports the highest levels of health and safety onboard our ships, we implement rigorous cleaning procedures, many of which far exceed public health guidelines,” the statement said.

The CDC said testing of the samples taken aboard the cruise is being done to determine the cause of the outbreak.

“Norovirus is often a cause of gastrointestinal illness outbreaks on cruise ships, but we don’t always know the cause of the outbreak when we begin an investigation,” the agency said. “Finding the agent that caused an outbreak (causative agent) can take time.”

As of Wednesday, 18 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships have been reported this year, according to the CDC’s website.