Nearly 350 passengers on the MSC Sinfonia, a Swiss-owned cruise ship that left Rio de Janeiro one week ago, have come down with some kind of food borne virus that’s caused a massive outbreak of vomiting and diarrhea on board, according to the Associated Press.
The ship had to be steered into port at Salvador, Bahia, where the passengers are reportedly recovering. Spokespeople for the cruise liner say the virus is not life threatening.
There were 2,000 passengers on board the cruise, mostly from Brazil.
Inspections found high amounts of chlorine in the cruise liner’s drinking water and problems with the storage of perishable food items like mayonnaise, the AP says.
An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause of the outbreak. The Brazilian agency in charge of it is called the National Agency for Sanitary Vigilance, and if that isn’t a great name for a government department, I don’t know what is.