by Donald Wood
Last updated: 8:00 AM ET, Thu May 2, 2019
Recent outbreaks of measles in the United States have people on edge, but the fear for travelers was intensified Tuesday when the Ministry of Health in St. Lucia revealed a cruise ship currently docked at the island was being investigated for an outbreak of the infection.
According to ABCNews.com, St. Lucia's chief medical officer Dr. Merlene Fredericks James said an unidentified ship was quarantined on the island after there was at least one case of measles reported onboard.
James did not specify which cruise line owned the ship or where the vessel originated.
"As per the Quarantine Act, our authority under the Quarantine Act, the Public Health Act, and after internal discussions as well as discussions with external health agencies such as the Pan-American Health Organization, we thought it prudent that we quarantine the ship," James said in a video posted Tuesday. "The crew and passengers aboard were not allowed to leave."
"Measles, we know, is a highly infectious disease," James continued. "So because of the risk of potential infection, not just from the confirmed measles case but from other persons who may be on the boat at the time, we thought it prudent to make a decision not to allow anyone to disembark. The Ministry of Health continues to work with all authorities."
The U.S. continues to deal with troubling numbers of measles cases being reported, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed 704 confirmed cases nationally so far this year.
The World Health Organization is also reporting cases of measles are up 300 percent over the first three months of 2019 when compared to last year.
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