Jan. 10, 2005 --Four cruise ships reported outbreaks of intestinal illness in December to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. None of them was sailing from South Florida ports when the outbreaks occurred.

Norwegian Cruise Line had two episodes. About 2.9 percent of passengers aboard its Norwegian Sea vessel were ill on a seven-night voyage ended Dec. 11 in Houston. About the same time 4.2 percent of passengers on the Norwegian Dream fell ill on a seven-night cruise that ended in New Orleans on Dec. 12.

Fort Lauderdale-based Silversea Cruises had 4 percent of passengers ill on its 10-night cruise aboard the Silver Shadow that ended Dec. 14 in San Diego. On that cruise 6.9 percent of the crew members also had intestinal illness.

Finally, Princess Cruises said 3 percent of the passengers on its Golden Princess sailing on a seven-night cruise that ended Dec. 14 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, were ill.

Viruses are one source of gastrointestinal illness on ships, especially this time of year. The CDC has taken test samples from the Norwegian and Princess ships, but has not yet determined a cause of the illness. Medical staff on the Silversea ship successfully treated the outbreak with antibiotics, suggesting that a bacteria was responsible in that case.

All the ships were cleaned and disinfected after the outbreaks, the CDC said.

Send items for this column to [email protected] or call 305-810-5008.

-----To see more of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel -- including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings -- or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sun-sentinel.com.

(c) 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail [email protected]. SARC, CCL, HOT, DAL, AMR, LUV, JBLU, UAIRQ, CAL,