Food Poisoning on Cruise Ships

Going on a cruise has been a popular way to travel and vacation since before the Titanic. While passengers are unlikely to be the victim of a shipwreck while cruising, another problem is more common---gastrointestinal illness.

Significance

• On cruise ships, everybody is eating food from the same kitchen. Therefore, if there's a problem with the food, many people are going to get sick from food poisoning.

Considerations

• Noroviruses are the viruses that cause the stomach flu. If someone has a norovirus and comes on the ship, that person is likely to infect many others.

Prevention/Solution

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) to help prevent all gastrointestinal illnesses on cruise ships. VSP officials inspect and monitor ships, train employees and provide health education.

Considerations

• It's important to find out the cause of an intestinal illness. If it's from salmonella caused by eggs, meat or poultry that was not cooked properly, it could be life threatening. If it was caused by a norovirus, that's usually self-limiting and will go away on its own in one to two days.

Effects

• Both food poisoning and norovirus cause symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping.