More than 1,700 people have been confined on Wednesday aboard a cruise ship in Bordeaux, southwestern France, after a passenger died and dozens of others developed symptoms linked to a suspected gastroenteritis outbreak, French media reported.
“According to information provided last night by the ship's captain, up to around 50 passengers have experienced symptoms consistent with an acute digestive infection,” the local health authorities wrote in a press release.
These passengers were immediately taken care of by the ship's doctor and isolated in their cabins.
The cruise ship Ambition, part of the Ambassador Cruise Line company, left the Shetland Islands north of Scotland on May 6, stopped in Belfast in Northern Ireland and Liverpool in England before reaching Bordeaux, from where it was scheduled to depart for Spain.
The regional health agency in Nouvelle-Aquitaine said that a medical team has been dispatched on board to carry out a health situation assessment, and samples are currently being collected by the infectious disease department of Bordeaux University Hospital.
