The agency said that 284 passengers and 34 crew members—out of about 4,000 total people—were sickened onboard the cruise between Feb. 26 and March 5. Their primary symptoms were "vomiting and diarrhea," it said, adding that the "causative agent" is currently "unknown."At this point in the article, I guessed Norovirus, but that's not "science".
The ship ultimately docked in Galveston, Texas, where CDC investigators responded to the reports of illnesses and "collected stool specimens from gastrointestinal illness cases to send to the CDC lab for pathogenic identification."
"Onboard the Feb. 26 sailing of Ruby Princess, there were a number of cases of mild gastrointestinal illness among passengers, the cause likely being the common but contagious virus called Norovirus," the cruise operator told news outlets. The CDC has not confirmed whether the rash of illnesses was caused by norovirus or something else.
Described as highly contagious by federal health agencies, norovirus causes vomiting and diarrhea. It has often caused outbreaks on cruise ships in recent years and has been sometimes dubbed the "cruise ship virus" in media reports.
I had it several times when I was working (on land) and the doctor called it 'Winter Vomiting Disease'. Sometimes, both symptoms present at the same time. No vaccine for it - yet