Cruise Ship Passenger Died From Virus
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has determined that the death of a passenger aboard a Carnival Cruise Lines ship last month was due to viral gastroenteritis.
Russell Lum, 52, of Berkeley, died June 19 while on a weeklong cruise to Mexico that sent scores of other passengers to the ship’s infirmary suffering from diarrhea and nausea.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has failed to identify what sickened Lum or the other passengers or determine whether the same virus is responsible, coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey said.
CDC investigators found no bacteria problems in the ship’s water, food preparation or storage areas, but the center has sent out questionnaires to all passengers to find out how many got sick and their symptoms.
Coroner’s officials determined that Lum bled to death when an artery in his esophagus ruptured after severe vomiting.
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