While on a Mediterranean cruise, 58 year old Raymond Evans hurt his knee during a fall. The injury was nothing serious, but the ships doctor put Mr. Evans on an antibiotic regimen, just to be safe.
Despite the shots, his widow said his condition started to deteriorate, and that the back of his knee was turning black. This developed into a “blotchy blackness” that spread to his chest, elbow and fingers, and he was admitted into the ships hospital.
When the ship docked in Alexandria, Egypt, Mr.Evans was transported to the intensive care unit of the city’s hospital where he died hours later. The total time from noticing the blackness on his knee till death was just 24 hours.
A pathologist told the official inquiry that Mr.Evans had been infected by the flesh-eating bug necrotising fasciitis (warning: graphic images on that page!).
The pathologist concluded that Mr.Evans had not caught the bug during his fall, because the symptoms of the flesh eating bug usually start hours after being infected, so the most probable source was something on the cruise ship that entered through his wounds.
This is of course just another example of the health risks involved with cruise ships. For years, cruise lines have struggled with the norovirus as we previously covered here, here and here. Still, common sense and basic hygiene precautions should help keep you perfectly safe when you get on board.
The cruise ship photo above is for illustrative purposes only – that is not necessarily the ship involved in this incident.