Mariner of the Seas, a &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/world/2002/07/31/33574.html ' target=_blank>cruise ship with more than 250 of its 3465 passengers ill with a stomach upsetting pathogen will dock at the port in Florida today. The passengers caught the disease after the vessel left Port Canaveral on January 16th for a seven-day cruise through the western &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/accidents/2001/11/30/22464.html ' target=_blank>Caribbean region.
Of the 1190 &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/region/2003/01/31/42819.html ' target=_blank>crew members on the vessel, 20 are suffering with the infection, writes the Earth Times.
Royal Caribbean has sent three additional doctors and a nurse to assist the ship's medical team and have implemented a program of heightened sanitation procedures for crew members.
Symptoms of a norovirus, or Norwalk-like virus, include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control Web site.
A low-grade fever can also be present along with chills, headache, body aches and fatigue. The illness is usually short-lived, lasting from one to two days, says CNN International.
According to the Sun-Sentinel News, Rosalind Postell, a Canaveral Port Authority spokeswoman, said they were putting together a plan for Sunday and working to ensure the people are taken care of when they disembark.
Passenger Crystal Wiles, an accountant from Frederick, Md., said in a phone interview from the vessel that she and her husband, Scott, had been quarantined for three days. She criticized the cruise line's handling of the illness and said the company was undercounting the number of people affected by the virus. "The treatment has been horrible," Wiles said.
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