A Bad Thing

[TresCrows]

I am not sure I should post this but well, here goes.
We have heard the report recently, all of us, about the strange illnesses aboard cruise ships. We have all heard about the daily "new" disease be it Saars, or Monkeyvirus or WestNile etc. Some affect people, some animals, some plants. More than a little weird I think.
Well, OK, here is the bad thing, a terrible thing and I will not use names or specifics. A person I know had a preteen son who went with his grandparents on a cruise. The child became ill. He was hospitalized with an unknown viral illness. He unfortunately passed away from this UNKNOWN viral illness. Now, has anyone ever heard of a young, healthy, active preteen dying suddenly, litterally within a week or so from an UNKNOWN virus? This of course has a devastating impact on the family and the poor grandparents who took the child as I understand. It is a horrible thing, an unexpected thing, something no one would ever imagine.
How does this happen? I am concerned that these cruise ships are filthy from the germs and viruses deposited on them from countless people into a closed environment--the ship--with closed resources and closed venelation and who knows what in the ventelation systems/bilges. Apparently, to my knowledge, the child was the only one who came down with this illness but details are very sketchy. Just a thought but maybe now is not a good time for a vacation on one of those floating petri dishes. J

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Honey.....you couldn't DRAG me onto a plane or ship or anything else until they figure out what is going on, and maybe not even then. How awful for those grandparents. It may be that people who travel more have built up a type of resistence over time and this boy's system was pure to some of the stuff that is floating around. How awful.

 

[Egon]

Don't forget the cattlecar section of commercial flights with reduced oxygen and recirculated air.

Egon

 

[r0GuE]

I don't disagree with you.. but these ships sit in tropical waters visiting many ports of call. At least with aircraft, they go in to sub zero temps and get bombarded with higher than normal amounts of radiation. Probably not enough to help though. BOY OH BOY am I glad I no longer travel for a living. For a number of years, I spent 100 plus days traveling world wide.
Y U K !!!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Is it a new phenomina, Absolutely NOT.
Your assessment of the filth factor is on the money. Turnaround time on these ships does NOT allow for sanitation, and only minimal cleaning is done.
How does a pre teen, who should have been in good health presumably, die from a viral infection? Sadly, the overuse of antibiotics across society is a major contributing factor, and more sadly, kids today are far less resiliant to diseases than we were 50 years ago, thanks to overuse of antibiotics, and misuse of medications to "cure" childhood diseases that ran their course and left antibodys in prior generations.
All of that said, the reality is NO virus has ever been defeated by medicine, be it the common cold, AIDS, or any other virus.

 

[cowboydoc]

Now, has anyone ever heard of a young, healthy, active preteen dying suddenly, litterally within a week or so from an UNKNOWN virus?

Unfortunately I see it all the time. Healthy people die for alot of unknown reasons. Our TRUE understanding of the disease process and medicine is not what people would think. I've had kids die from complications with a wrist fracture. No known cause and no reason. It's not just cruise ships it's life.

Our bodies fight off millions of illnesses and diseases every single day. If there is a letdown in the defenses of the body bacteria or a virus can invade and kill.

 

[GreenMtnMan]

I have a theory that peoples immune systems are far weaker than they used to be because of all the sanitation we practice these days. We close our houses up and filter the air, we use antibiotic soaps and household cleaners, our clothes are washed in hot water and bleach, we take baths or showers once or twice a day, our dishes are washed and sanitized between meals, doctors seem to give out antibiotics like candy, etc, etc. The lack of exposure to germs and bacteria makes our immune systems as out of shape as the rest of our bodies (myself included). When doctors give us antibiotics our immune systems don't have to work as hard to heal us - heck, maybe our immune systems are just lazy these days. Parents often don't even let their kids get dirty anymore, which probably stunts the development of their immune systems.

Anyway, that's my theory. It won't stop me from taking cruises though.

 

[BigDave]

Flying is not that bad, I make about 20-25 round-trips each year, many with connections. I don't seem to get sick anymore frequently than my co-workers who don't travel.

P.S. I'm in Texas right now, New Hampshire last week...the weather was alot more pleasant in N.H. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[DocHeb]

If that's true they should make immune globulin from the blood of Emergency Room Personel. There's no end to the crud we're exposed to /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif, and it isn't from playing in the dirt too much!

 

[Chief]

The A/C and ventilation systems on those ships are near perfect mediums for many diseases/organism such as Legionaire's disease, mold, mildew, etc. You won't get me on one of those scows! The airlines & security requirements have made flying such a RPITA, that I just refuse to fly anymore. I did alot while in the military but after 9/11, just is not worth it. I drive. As the population of the Earth continues to bound out of control and far beyond the carrying capacity of the land; we will see much more of this type of illness. That is a terrible loss for a parent to loose a child. The grand parents must feel horrible as well.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I don't get to go very often, but I've thoroughly enjoyed every cruise I've been on, and am not going to let any of this stuff scare me off. I just consider the odds. Some of the newer ships carry 2,000 - 3,000 passengers and probably 75% more crew, and there have to be 20 or 30 of the things just going out of Miami and Ft Lauderdale every few days to a week, so that means there's ~100,000 people or more cruising every time there's a sailing, or maybe 5 million people a year. Every once in a while you hear a report of someone getting sick, and even more rarely, dying. There's probably more danger involved with using Bic lighters.

Whoops - guess I guessed low. I just saw one cruise industry statistic for 2002 - ~42,000,000 passengers. I think the odds are in my favor...can't wait to cruise again.

 

[AMP762]

My 2cent's worth
I think worrying about all this kills as many as rare illnesses
we got to many people in to small places
we need more space or fewer people
have to leave to the smarter people to figure out /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I think it depends a lot on how much time you spend inside. If I was on a cruise ship, who am I kidding If I could afford to go I would risk it, but I would spend as much time as possible in the open air. Go to my cabin to change and maybe even sleep on deck.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Chief:

1) Right on about AP security harrassment (and, for me, the absence of smoking lounges induced by anti-smoking nazis). I'm more concerned about hassle by affirmative action security bimbos on power trips than terrorists. I used to fly once in a while for recreation. No more - its not worth the hassle.

2) Cruise "ships" are about as much a ship as "riverboat" gambling casinos are riverboats. Mass delivery of bland pop culture for the masses! Everything "sanitized" for the unwashed.

3) Don't worry about the population. Malthus was right. It's just taking longer than he thought. A couple of interesting books more directly related to this thread are "The Coming Plague", "Rats, Lice & History" and "Disease & History."

Take care.

JEH