The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) printed a report in October 2024 stating there have been at the least twelve Legionnaires’ illness occurrences on two cruise ships. Ten circumstances have been severe sufficient that cruise passengers required hospitalization. The CDC didn’t establish the cruise line(s) concerned.
This story was first reported by Travel + Leisure.
The CDC concluded, based mostly on “epidemiologic, environmental, and laboratory proof” that personal sizzling tubs are topic to “much less stringent working necessities than are public sizzling tubs, and working protocols have been inadequate to forestall Legionella development.”
Journey + Leisure journal defined the CDC’s findings in its article: “Sizzling tubs is usually a supply of Legionella development and transmission when they’re inadequately maintained and operated. It’s important for cruise ship operators to stock sizzling tub–model gadgets throughout their fleets, consider the design options that enhance the danger for Legionella development and transmission, and check for Legionella,” a CDC spokesperson advised Journey + Leisure.
The CDC included the knowledge under in its report:
- Non-public sizzling tubs discovered to be the supply of illness outbreak by the CDC.
- Twelve circumstances of Legionnaires’ illness over course of twenty months in sizzling tubs on cruise company’ non-public balconies.
- Poor cleansing requirements on non-public sizzling tubs led to speedy micro organism development.
The New York Post dramatically writes, “Cruise ship passengers splash out massive bucks for personal sizzling tubs in their very own staterooms on a regular basis — however the Middle for Illness Management is warning in opposition to the unique amenity, calling them a effervescent breeding floor for Legionnaires’ illness.”
The New York Put up additionally chimed in an article titled Don’t splash out for this coveted cruise ship extra — it’s a breeding ground for disease, experts warn on one other illness that cruise passengers are more and more dealing with, fast-spreading norovirus: “In the meantime, Legionnaires isn’t the one unwelcome visitor on deck. Norovirus — a infamous cruise ship nemesis — can be making waves . . .”
Norovirus outbreaks on cruise strains are pacing at document ranges with 16 gastrointestinal (GI) outbreaks already in 2025 in comparison with simply 18 complete in 2024. The CDC reported the spike is probably going as a consequence of a brand new norovirus pressure.
This all comes because the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP), which inspects cruise ships and responds to GI outbreaks, lately skilled staffing cuts on the Division of Well being and Human Companies below the Trump administration. Learn extra: New Norovirus Strain, Public Health Program “Mistakenly” Cut, and Sixteen Gastrointestinal Outbreaks on Cruise Ships in First Four Months of 2025
Will Legionnaires illness and record-breaking GI outbreaks trigger the cruise strains to overtake their sanitation processes and take accountability for his or her passenger’s wellbeing? Or will the CDC cuts embolden the cruise strains to proceed to shift the blame to passengers due to their “poor hygiene?”
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