Celebrity cruise returns to Seattle; 115 ill with norovirus

The Celebrity cruise ship Mercury returned to Seattle this morning with 115 people who had a gastrointestinal illness during their seven-night voyage to Alaska, the cruise company said.

Three of the ship's 847 crew members also experienced the illness, a suspected norovirus brought on board by someone previously exposed. The Mercury carried 2,034 passengers on the voyage.

According to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), noroviruses affect 23 million Americans annually. The only illness more prevalent is the common cold.

"The reason you hear about norovirus on cruise ships is because they are required to report every incidence of gastrointestinal illness," Dave Forney, the chief of the vessel-sanitation program of the CDC, said in a statement. "Nowhere else in the public-health system of the United States is norovirus a reportable illness. Norovirus is not a cruise-ship illness but an illness commonly seen in many settings throughout the United States."

Celebrity Cruises blames an increased number of norovirus cases on land for the increase in incidents aboard its ships. The company has instituted an illness-prevention program focusing on increased sanitation, enhanced cleaning procedures and special cleaning of "high touch" areas on the ship.

The company has added two doctors to its crew, bringing the number of doctors aboard the Mercury to four, along with three nurses.

The Mercury sailed from Seattle on Friday and visited Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Hubbard Glacier and the Inside Passage.