Traveler's diarrhea at sea: two multi-pathogen outbreaks caused by food eaten on shore visits

In 1976 and 1981, two outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness aboard cruise ships occurred within 24 hours following onshore visits to Haiti and Mexico, respectively. Three hundred eighty-six of 600 (64 per cent) and 98 of 260 (38 per cent) passengers became ill following luncheons in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Cozumel, Mexico. No increase in illness was observed among those passengers who did not attend the onshore luncheons. In both outbreaks, unrefrigerated seafood dishes served at outdoor buffets were epidemiologically incriminated as the vehicles of transmission. Several species of Vibrion, Salmonella, and toxigenic Escherichia coli were recovered from stool specimens of ill passengers in both outbreaks. In addition, invasive Escherichia coli and Shigella were isolated from stool specimens of ill passengers who ate at the Haitian buffet. Previous investigations of outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness aboard cruise ships have implicated exposures on board as the source and have involved only a single pathogen.