Cruise ship has 60 flu cases, company says no H1N1

By Sophie Hardach

PARIS (Reuters) - A cruise ship carrying dozens of possible flu victims among its 5,000 passengers and crew docked in France on Friday, and there were contradictory reports about whether they had H1N1 or more common flu-like symptoms.

French authorities said in a statement on Friday morning that the ship had arrived in Villefranche in southern France carrying 60 people infected with the H1N1 strain of flu, also known as swine flu.

They said their information was based on what Spanish authorities had told them.

The Spanish Health Ministry in Madrid said one person who had shown flu-like symptoms had been tested and confirmed positive for H1N1 after the ship left Barcelona on July 26.

But the ship's owner, U.S.-Norwegian company Royal Caribbean, said all tests had been negative.

Royal Caribbean said it had tested 62 crew members and two guests with cold and flu-like symptoms onboard the "Voyager of the Seas" for influenza A, of which H1N1 is a sub-group.

"All of them were negative for influenza A," said Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez, speaking by telephone from the United States. "Everyone was tested, all the results were negative."

The French statement said 60 crew members were infected with the H1N1 virus and 70 more showed symptoms of the disease.

"The reality is that there are cases, it's not severe, it's under control, but there really are cases, otherwise they wouldn't have given Tamiflu to the people," said Francois Xavier Lorre, director at France's DDASS public health authority.

MEDITERRANEAN TOUR

The ship was sailing from Villefranche to Marseille on Friday night as part of a 7-day Mediterranean tour.

The prefecture, or local government office, for the Marseille area issued a statement late on Friday saying neither passengers nor crew would be allowed to disembark until further tests had been carried out on their health.

"Based on the results, a decision will be made on whether or not passengers can disembark," it said.

Royal Caribbean's Martinez said every person with flu-like symptoms had been given the anti-viral drug Tamiflu as a precaution.

She said Royal Caribbean had provided health declarations for their ship at every port, mentioning the "flu-like symptoms" shown by some people. The ship also stopped in Naples, Italy. Shares in Royal Caribbean fell as much as 7 percent in Oslo trading after the news, but recovered to close 3 percent down. In New York, they were down less than 1 percent.