Lloyd's List reports that Nicol Black, who is responsible for port health matters at the UK Health Protection Agency, says the United Kingdom will not ban ships carrying passengers with the H1N1 virus (swine flu).
The issue came up since Australia, Antigua and St. Lucia have this week prevented ships with passengers and/or crew members suspected of having the H1N1 virus from docking. Dr. Black questioned if that was even allowed under existing international health conventions.
The UK policy now expressly permits ships with passengers with influenza symptoms to come into the country, although they do have to give advance notice, and there will be risk assessment upon arrival, however.
Dr. Black is a former cruise ship doctor, and the Lloyd's List article included this very interesting quote from him:
“In any closed environment where you are in contact with other people for a long period of time when influenza is prevalent, then you are likely to be exposed,” he said. “Clearly, influenza will occur on cruiseships.
“Will it actually escalate very fast? Chances are, probably not. You are going to have better containment on board a cruiseship than you are at home.
“You are far more at risk on the [London] underground. That is the kind of risk you should be comparing with a cruiseship. On a like-for-like basis, I don’t think there is an excess risk.”
