Royal Caribbean speaks out as cruise passengers fall ill with agonising symptoms

A cruise company has released a statement after more than 140 people were hit with agonising symptoms after taking ill ontheir ship.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched an investigation into the mystery illness after passengers were struck down on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship between July 4 and 11.

The company's Navigator of the Seaswas on a seven-night, round trip cruise from Los Angeles headed for Mexico and back when seven members of staff and 134 passengers suffered vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhoea.

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The Navigator of the Seas was carrying 3,194 guests on the trip. In response to the outbreak, the cruise liner rolled out heightened cleaning and disinfection measures and isolated the affected individuals.

A Royal Caribbean Group spokesperson said: "The health and safety of our guests, crew, and the communities we visit are our top priority.

"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 CDC took samples and is awaiting confirmation as to which pathogen caused the outbreak.

However, the symptoms - three or more loose stools in a day or vomiting, plus either diarrhea, headaches, muscle aches, fever or abdominal cramps - appear to indicate they were suffering from acute gastroenteritis (AGE).

The CDC states AGE on cruises is usually the result of norovirus, which has caused the majority of the 18 gastrointestinal outbreaks on ships this year.

The CDC said: "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.

"Finding the agent that caused an outbreak (causative agent) can take time. When an outbreak occurs, people whose symptoms met the case definition are asked to provide stool or vomitus samples."

It continued: "These samples are tested to determine the causative agent. In this outbreak, samples are pending confirmatory testing."