Upper respiratory infection after cruising?

[sail7seas]

I was on the cruise that puli talked about. I am also a nurse who works in an allergy office. Trust me to say that this was totally different. I am glad to say that our friend is on the mend and the rest of us are ok.

 

i think that the doctors on board need to be aware that whooping cough is on the rise.

 

Everyone is aware of noro virus. A contagious respiratory disease is more serious and long lasting.

 

Bottom line. Consider all possibilities

 

 

AND,

If you have not had a booster since getting vaccines when you were very young and are not so young now...... ask your doctor about getting a booster. I did.

 

Edited June 9, 2014 by sail7seas

[SoCal Cruiser78]

AND,

If you have not had a booster since getting vaccines when you were very young and are not so young now...... ask your doctor about getting a booster. I did.

 

 

I'll add to that many of you may have had a whooping cough (pertussus) vaccine and not realize it. Many docs and clinics now give it as a combo (called T-dap) along with a tetanus shot every 10 years or so. So you may have had been vaccinated if you've had a tetanus shot in recent years.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Ryndam2002

[sail7seas]

I'll add to that many of you may have had a whooping cough (pertussus) vaccine and not realize it. Many docs and clinics now give it as a combo (called T-dap) along with a tetanus shot every 10 years or so. So you may have had been vaccinated if you've had a tetanus shot in recent years.

 

 

That is what my doctor ordered. I was due for tetanus booster so she explained about update for pertussus.

 

[puli]

AND,

If you have not had a booster since getting vaccines when you were very young and are not so young now...... ask your doctor about getting a booster. I did.

 

 

Wouldn't it be great if cruise lines required this or at least had that question on the health screening form.

[sammygoose]

This does not guard against whooping cough but it does do an AMAZING job vs cold and cruise ship and airline crud.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Nasaline-Nasal-Irrigator/dp/B001JQGTAY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402278842&sr=8-1&keywords=nasaline+nasal+irrigator

 

Read the reviews and look at the price. I use it and can vouch for it 100%.

 

The solution is 1tsp of baking soda, 2 tsp of non idolized salt fine grind and 2 cups of warm water.

 

I use it daily and take it with me travelling. You can use it as much as you want. Non addictive, does not interact with medications and is reusable.

 

Flush all the toxins out before and if they infect you. It's like a shower for your upper respiratory tract......and for everyone who thinks they are getting old and going deaf- it cleans the wax out...maybe your aren't?

 

Really. I haven't taken a day off work for a cold sick in 5 years + because I can treat and manage it. and they pay me not to take days off so I have a vested interest in not getting sick or feeling poopy.

 

The first week you start it yes- you feel stuffed up like you inhaled water swimming but it passes and then your airway and sinuses feel so clear and free, it's like a shower inside.

 

Ok rant over- please try it and use it and enjoy cruising crud free.

Edited June 9, 2014 by sammygoose
spelling

[Kassandra]

Just got home from 24 days on Nieuw Amsterdam. There was a really bad URI going around the ship from when we boarded in Barcelona. managed to pick it up on my last few days. This is the HAL doctors diagnosis not mine. You could hear the hacking coughs all over the ship. I knew it was inevitable to catch it as there was just too many people that were sick.

 

We just returned home from Nieuw Amsterdam 12 day Med cruise. My mother developed URI 4 days into the cruise. By the last 5 days, you could hear MANY coughs on the ship, and myself and other roll call people had it too. Ship nurse said there was a big uptick in coughing stuff the last week.

 

Even in the airport (and flight home) there was a LOT of coughing. So I know it wasn't just cruise related but travel related.

[Sailsilly]

I caught a really bad cold with flu like symptoms the last night of our Alaska Cruise. One month later after a 10 day course of antibiotics for sinus infection, the chest and nasal congestion persists and I can only get temporary relief from OTC type cold tablets. I have heard 5 weeks may be the time for symptoms to subside. The problem I see is that on board bacterial infections or virus never are disinfected. Time to change passengers is spent by food replenishment and luggage handling. Contagions remain onbiard because cleaning and disinfectant cannot be completed in 12 hour stop. It is spread about the ship until it becomes almost impossible to avoid.

[blizzardboy]

Far better chance of catching it on the plane than on the ship.

I agree. In my experience, the destination doesn't seem to matter, so it has to be the planes. If it were the ships, the illness would be rampant on cruises over 10 or 11 days.

[Sacto Rick]

Yes, the wife and I have gotten bad URI's on several cruises. It takes about 4 weeks to get over it when I come down with this. I was kind of afraid to take another cruise once but the last two cruises I've been okay.

 

It still makes me nervous that I'll get one and I'm leaving again in 2 weeks. We try to stay off crowded elevators and we wash hands so much they dry and crackle...

Still, you never know...

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Nassalin flushing has worked for my wife.

[KirkNC]

On the last WC I bet at least half the ship had it, a few so bad they went home. I held out about 30 days before catching it. I will say antibiotics cleared it up pretty quickly.

[Tampa Girl]

I caught a really bad cold with flu like symptoms the last night of our Alaska Cruise. One month later after a 10 day course of antibiotics for sinus infection, the chest and nasal congestion persists and I can only get temporary relief from OTC type cold tablets. I have heard 5 weeks may be the time for symptoms to subside. The problem I see is that on board bacterial infections or virus never are disinfected. Time to change passengers is spent by food replenishment and luggage handling. Contagions remain onbiard because cleaning and disinfectant cannot be completed in 12 hour stop. It is spread about the ship until it becomes almost impossible to avoid.

 

Every HAL ship that I have been on has been continually disinfected throughout the cruise, or at least as much as can be done. Hand rails, door knobs, bathrooms, etc. are continually wiped down with disinfectants. Admittedly, this is not the thorough disinfecting that can be done between passenger turnovers.

[Hlitner]

That is what my doctor ordered. I was due for tetanus booster so she explained about update for pertussus.

 

 

The new US Standard is to ask anyone who is around a newborn to have a Pertussis shot/booster. We recently had a Grandchild and our DD's Obstetrician and Pediatrician were insistent that all of us get a Pertussis shot prior to the birth. Because too many Americans are avoiding inoculations, some of these diseases (like whooping cough) have again become a problem.

 

Hank

[bennybear]

I too was diagnosed with influenza that developed into a Respiratory infection the last day on Noordam. It seems to have been rampant on the Alaska cruises and the ships Dr diagnosed it and even after antibiotics the congestion still lingers. I had the flu shot and use Purell religiously but this bug is nasty. Tamiflu slowed it down for my DH. Hope you are well soon.

 

 

Hank, wondering if they can do the pertussis separately from the tetanus?

[catl331]

I agree. In my experience, the destination doesn't seem to matter, so it has to be the planes. If it were the ships, the illness would be rampant on cruises over 10 or 11 days.

I've gotten them on cruises where we drove to and from the port.

[81Zoomie]

This does not guard against whooping cough but it does do an AMAZING job vs cold and cruise ship and airline crud.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Nasaline-Nasal-Irrigator/dp/B001JQGTAY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402278842&sr=8-1&keywords=nasaline+nasal+irrigator

 

Read the reviews and look at the price. I use it and can vouch for it 100%.

 

The solution is 1tsp of baking soda, 2 tsp of non idolized salt fine grind and 2 cups of warm water.

 

I use it daily and take it with me travelling. You can use it as much as you want. Non addictive, does not interact with medications and is reusable.

 

Flush all the toxins out before and if they infect you. It's like a shower for your upper respiratory tract......and for everyone who thinks they are getting old and going deaf- it cleans the wax out...maybe your aren't?

 

Really. I haven't taken a day off work for a cold sick in 5 years + because I can treat and manage it. and they pay me not to take days off so I have a vested interest in not getting sick or feeling poopy.

 

The first week you start it yes- you feel stuffed up like you inhaled water swimming but it passes and then your airway and sinuses feel so clear and free, it's like a shower inside.

 

Ok rant over- please try it and use it and enjoy cruising crud free.

 

I always thought you had to use distilled or boiled water with nasal rinses???

[ShannonSC2]

Far better chance of catching it on the plane than on the ship.

 

We were on the Noordam from June 11-18 from Seward to Vancouver. We had about 18 in our group. We also did Denali before hand but no one was feeling bad until about day 2 in the cruise. So weather they got it from the train, the bus ride down or the ship who knows. :)

 

The first day the captain came over the speaker with an update of our location. Then he said the doctor's were packed with people coughing and sore throat. He said please cough in your sleeves and wash hands. Not a good sign!

 

Out of our group about 10 got it while on the ship. One got off ship in Vancouver and had to go to doctor in Seattle with flu.

 

My husband has it and was diagnosed with a bad bacterial infection. Not a fun flight home from Seattle to Charlotte, NC.

 

Over all our cruises this is the first time we have ever experienced this.

[ShannonSC2]

I caught a really bad cold with flu like symptoms the last night of our Alaska Cruise. One month later after a 10 day course of antibiotics for sinus infection, the chest and nasal congestion persists and I can only get temporary relief from OTC type cold tablets. I have heard 5 weeks may be the time for symptoms to subside. The problem I see is that on board bacterial infections or virus never are disinfected. Time to change passengers is spent by food replenishment and luggage handling. Contagions remain onbiard because cleaning and disinfectant cannot be completed in 12 hour stop. It is spread about the ship until it becomes almost impossible to avoid.

 

Which ship were you on and when? We were on the Noordam from June 11-18 and part of our group caught the crud. One was diagnosed with the flu after getting back.

[lastlook]

I have never been sick from time spent on a ship. However, we recently completed the 20 Land/Sea with HAL, which started with almost two weeks on LAND (Vancouver to Yukon to Alaska) prior to boarding the Noordam in Seward on June 11th, for the last leg of our journey. Our group was healthy at the start of the trip - no coughing nor sneezing, but within the first few days of the land trip (after leaving White Horse for Dawson City) an upper respiratory infection/cold started going through our group. Our bus driver sounded "nasally" on the drive between White Horse and Dawson City, and I hoped it was just allergies. However, the next morning I saw him in passing at breakfast in Dawson City, and he told me he had come down with a bad cold. Next, we flew from Dawson City to Fairbanks, where many other HAL groups converged at the Westmark Hotel there. I heard LOTS of heavy coughing and sneezing by those in other HAL groups who were not with our group, so it must be everywhere up there. In Fairbanks, I started with the sniffles and a scratchy throat but didn't feel too badly at first. Then it settled into my chest and I had a bad cough the second week of the land trip. My husband got it a couple of days after I did. I would estimate that at least 50% of our group ended up with an upper respiratory infection. Unfortunately, I'm sure several land groups carried this onto the Noordam; the Captain mentioned that many reported to the infirmary at the beginning of the cruise and reminded us all to wash our hands, cough into our arm, etc. We were on the mend at that point, but limited our time in public places on the ship. Our HAL land trip involved two flights, so we might have picked it up on the flight from Vancouver to White Horse, but it's hard to know. The Air North flights were great and the planes were spotless, but we're all breathing the same recycled air, so it only takes one sick person to spread something. It's unfortunate that so many have been affected on the Alaska trips recently, but with people flying in from all over the world and sharing close quarters, I guess it is hard to avoid. I get flu shots every year and have had the pneumonia shot, never had a cold or flu this past winter, always wash my hands frequently, but still got this one.:(

[ShannonSC2]

I have never been sick from time spent on a ship. However, we recently completed the 20 Land/Sea with HAL, which started with almost two weeks on LAND (Vancouver to Yukon to Alaska) prior to boarding the Noordam in Seward on June 11th, for the last leg of our journey. Our group was healthy at the start of the trip - no coughing nor sneezing, but within the first few days of the land trip (after leaving White Horse for Dawson City) an upper respiratory infection/cold started going through our group. Our bus driver sounded "nasally" on the drive between White Horse and Dawson City, and I hoped it was just allergies. However, the next morning I saw him in passing at breakfast in Dawson City, and he told me he had come down with a bad cold. Next, we flew from Dawson City to Fairbanks, where many other HAL groups converged at the Westmark Hotel there. I heard LOTS of heavy coughing and sneezing by those in other HAL groups who were not with our group, so it must be everywhere up there. In Fairbanks, I started with the sniffles and a scratchy throat but didn't feel too badly at first. Then it settled into my chest and I had a bad cough the second week of the land trip. My husband got it a couple of days after I did. I would estimate that at least 50% of our group ended up with an upper respiratory infection. Unfortunately, I'm sure several land groups carried this onto the Noordam; the Captain mentioned that many reported to the infirmary at the beginning of the cruise and reminded us all to wash our hands, cough into our arm, etc. We were on the mend at that point, but limited our time in public places on the ship. Our HAL land trip involved two flights, so we might have picked it up on the flight from Vancouver to White Horse, but it's hard to know. The Air North flights were great and the planes were spotless, but we're all breathing the same recycled air, so it only takes one sick person to spread something. It's unfortunate that so many have been affected on the Alaska trips recently, but with people flying in from all over the world and sharing close quarters, I guess it is hard to avoid. I get flu shots every year and have had the pneumonia shot, never had a cold or flu this past winter, always wash my hands frequently, but still got this one.:(

 

Even when we were in Seattle after the cruise we were in Target getting medicines and everyone seemed to be coughing. I think about 50% of our group got it also even though we did the Anchorage to Denali portion first. I am glad you are feeling better. I didn't get it but my husband wind up with it near the end of the cruise.

 

I am sure the change of weather going from 100 degrees in SC to being cold and rainy and they are just now experiencing spring (everything blooming within the week we were there) doesn't help. :)

[Love the beach]

On another thread someone who lives in Alaska posted that this had been going around Alaska all winter so most likely that is where everyone is picking it up

[lastlook]

Even when we were in Seattle after the cruise we were in Target getting medicines and everyone seemed to be coughing. I think about 50% of our group got it also even though we did the Anchorage to Denali portion first. I am glad you are feeling better. I didn't get it but my husband wind up with it near the end of the cruise.

 

I am sure the change of weather going from 100 degrees in SC to being cold and rainy and they are just now experiencing spring (everything blooming within the week we were there) doesn't help. :)

 

Thank you for your well wishes and I hope your husband is feeling better by now as well. We had a great trip and hope you did too.:)

[casamariposa]

Just wondering if anyone has returned from a cruise and developed an upper respiratory infection several days later? We returned on 5/3 and my DH began with symptoms that seemed like a cold, led to lots of coughing and a diagnosis from a doctor of an upper respiratory infection. We did fly home, and there was a woman sitting next to him who was coughing, so maybe he caught it that way.

 

Anyone else have this?

 

I returned from a South America Grand Voyage a year ago with a collapsed lung as a result of a fungal infection. I have never had to endure anything like it on a cruise, and I've been cruising for decades. I did not have to fly to embark. I live in Florida, I was in great shape for two weeks, and then self-quarantined (which pleased the medical department) for several days and confined my eating to room service or the Lido Buffet. I was not the only passenger who dragged him/herself off the ship!

[nytexans]

My party, who just returned from a 14 day cruise on Crystal Synohony have now all come down with either Upper Respiratiory Infection (3) and one flu. One member of our group got sick around the 10th day and went to the on board clinic. The doctior ordered blood tests and ruled out 'bacterial infection'. A day after returning and before flying the rest of the party got sick. Leads me to believe this is a cruise company issue oerhaos tied to the AC system, whisked now I had asked for the filters to be checked in my presence. Second Crystal Cruise and about our 7th total cruise ... this is the only time we have all gotten ill.

[kazu]

My party, who just returned from a 14 day cruise on Crystal Synohony have now all come down with either Upper Respiratiory Infection (3) and one flu. One member of our group got sick around the 10th day and went to the on board clinic. The doctior ordered blood tests and ruled out 'bacterial infection'. A day after returning and before flying the rest of the party got sick. Leads me to believe this is a cruise company issue oerhaos tied to the AC system, whisked now I had asked for the filters to be checked in my presence. Second Crystal Cruise and about our 7th total cruise ... this is the only time we have all gotten ill.

 

I don't know if this will help for the future but a friend swears on oil of oregano.

 

As soon as they hear a cough on a ship, they start to take it and have never been affected.

 

Having been "hit" by this I plan to try it for my next cruise. heck, it will be in my medicine cabinet ;)

 

nothing ventured, nothing gained.