Norovirus Crisis: 128 Passengers Affected on Arcadia Cruise Ship

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Norovirus Crisis: 128 Passengers Affected on Arcadia Cruise Ship
Norovirus Crisis: 128 Passengers Affected on Arcadia Cruise Ship Credit | Getty images

United States: Norovirus broke out on a P&O Cruises Arcadia in November leading to many passengers being quarantined in their rooms. Some of the victims include 77year old Alan Forster a man who hail from Paignton England who lost his life to the virus. According to Forster’s family, he died of presumed renal failure a few weeks after becoming ill on the journey, as reported by HealthDay.

Details of the Outbreak

The Arcadia sailed from Southampton on September 3, 2023, and it visited New York, Boston, Halifax and Nova Scotia as well. However, the trip was complicated with sickness through through norovirus which is an acute gastroenteritis of drastic and highly informational as it causes vomiting, diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain. According to the CDC, of the 1,959 passengers on board, 128 of them developed the symptoms between September 3 and October 3.

Unfortunately Forster become sicker and his condition deteriorated very fast. He was given a drip in the ship’s medical center and was then transferred to a hospital in St. John’s Canada to where he eventually died from renal failure.

Family’s Plea for Answers

The families also had so many questions that they wished they could get answers to so that they could find a way to ensure that no other family had to go through what they were going through — Forster’s wife Dianna said this.

Forster’s family lawyer Jatinder Paul said that the circumstances in which Forster died are ‘alarming’ and people need to be held responsible. “We are now pursuing and as I have vowed we will offer the family the information they require,” Paul said.

P&O Cruises’ Response

P&O Cruises expressed it deeply regrets the Forster family and also said that it has initiated the procedure of investigation. In their own words a spokesperson expressed the following: “The records show that when the medical staff with responsibilities for the care of this patient, Mr Forster, were alerted to his poor condition, care, which included onward specialist review and support, was provided at a shoreside hospital. We will treat calmly the matters alleged and act in response according to what will be said.”

Norovirus on the Rise

Cases of outbreaks of norovirus on the cruise ships are on the rise lately. As it turned out, the CDC has reported three other outbreaks on other ships, and these involved hundreds of people.

Expert Advice on Prevention

William Schaffner of the academic department of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University said that people should clean their hands with soap as a way of avoiding the spread of the norovirus. He suggested that conventional remedies like alcohol-based sanitizers are harmless, but in fact, the virus can live for anything from one to two weeks or even a week on a surface, as reported by HealthDay.

“It only requires a little of the virus to really get a hold on you,” said Dr. Schaffner.

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