Earlier Outbreaks on Cruise Ships in VSP's Jurisdiction

Earlier outbreaks (2025)

2024

About outbreak reporting

We post outbreaks when they meet both of the following:

• Ship is under VSP jurisdiction (on voyages including both U.S. and foreign ports)
• Voyage has 3% or more of passengers or crew reporting symptoms of GI illness to the ship's medical staff

We may also post other outbreaks of public health significance.

Notes about the data

GI illness is a commonly used term for acute gastroenteritis (AGE). Reporting GI illness on cruise ships is important. When passengers and crew tell the medical center onboard about their symptoms, it helps GI outbreaks get detected quickly. This allows steps to be taken to limit the spread of illness. Medical staff evaluate symptoms to see if they meet our case definition for AGE:

• Three or more loose stools within a 24-hour period or what is more than normal for that person OR
• Vomiting along with one of the following symptoms: diarrhea, muscle ache, headache, abdominal cramp, or fever

Cruise ships are required to report these cases to us.

Learn more

Learn how passengers can protect themselves with these tips for healthy cruising.

Find more information on

• VSP outbreak response
  
• Recent outbreaks
• Earlier outbreaks
  
  • 2023
• Archived outbreaks
  • 2019–2022
  • 1993–2018
    

Read our publication on cruise ship GI outbreaks during 2006-2019.