Virus outbreak on liner 'caused by sick woman sneaking out of cabin'

Published on Wednesday 9 September 2009 22:08

AN ELDERLY passenger who left her cabin after becoming ill has been blamed for causing an outbreak of a winter vomiting bug on a liner cruising the Highlands and Islands.

The unnamed woman boarded The Balmoral, operated by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, on Saturday and had been confined to her cabin by medical staff. But she ignored the advice and mingled with other passengers, spreading the infection.

Yesterday, as the liner was anchored off Mull, the confirmed number of passengers and crew affected by the virus had risen to 97.

Nigel Lingard, the marketing director for the cruise line company, said the "exact cause" of the outbreak had been identified.

He said: "Unfortunately, a lady who had embarked in Dover on Saturday was found to have arrived on board the ship already ill. In line with our normal procedures, she was confined to her cabin. She chose to break that confinement and went out, circulating around the ship. In her condition, she very quickly spread the illness."

Mr Lingard added: "There is a 24-hour incubation period, and it was a day later that some other people started to report ill. Then we learned that the elderly lady had been out and about around the ship – sneaking out."

He explained: "Unless it is quite clear it is just sea sickness, anything else that relates to the possibility of viral illness, we take the worst-case scenario and say to passengers: please remain confined to cabin until symptoms have been clear for a day."

But Mr Lingard said the company could not force passengers to remain in their cabins. The woman who caused the outbreak to spread remained on board the liner.

Mr Lingard stressed that, despite the outbreak, the vast majority of passengers were continuing to enjoy their cruise. The Balmoral was anchored off Mull yesterday and passengers were being taken into Tobermory.

He added: "The reports from the ship are that the passengers are in good spirits generally. For the vast majority, life goes on. The number of new cases overnight has been quite minimal. We hope we have passed the peak and got this under control."

A spokeswoman for the cruise line said: "In accordance with guidelines set down by the Health Protection Agency, staff throughout Balmoral have stepped up their already fastidious disinfecting regime."

The liner sails to Dublin on the next leg of its cruise.