British passengers have been confined to a cruise ship in Bordeaux, France, after a suspected norovirus outbreak killed a 90-year-old woman. The Ambassador Cruise Line vessel, Ambition, is docked in Bordeaux as health officials investigate the incident, which they say is unrelated to a separate hantavirus outbreak on another cruise ship.
More than 50 people have reported symptoms of the highly contagious virus on board, according to The Mirror. Over 1,700 passengers and crew have been confined after the elderly passenger died, health officials confirmed. The first signs of symptoms among passengers were recorded on May 11, Bordeaux officials said. Norovirus is a form of gastroenteritis that causes vomiting and diarrhoea.
The local Gironde prefecture stated: "According to information relayed last night by the ship's captain, up to fifty passengers experienced symptoms consistent with an acute gastrointestinal infection. These passengers were immediately attended to by the ship's doctor and isolated in their cabins. A medical team, supervised by the maritime medical coordination service and under the authority of the maritime prefect, was dispatched on board to assess the health situation. Samples are currently being taken by the infectious diseases department of the Bordeaux University Hospital."
Authorities said health management protocols had been activated, adding this virus was not related to the hantavirus outbreak which claimed the lives of several passengers on a separate cruise. The ship left the Shetland Islands on May 6, before stopping in Belfast, Liverpool, and Brest in France, and reaching Bordeaux, from where it was scheduled to depart for Spain today. It is unclear how long those aboard, thought to be mostly British and Irish passengers, may be stranded in France.
