Department of Emergency and Disaster Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
Obstetrics & Gynecology, Yodogawa Christian Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020 May 11;6(2):e18821. doi: 10.2196/18821.
Japan implemented a large-scale quarantine on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in an attempt to control the spread of the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in February 2020.
We aim to describe the medical activities initiated and difficulties in implementing quarantine on a cruise ship.
Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for SARS-CoV-2 were performed for all 3711 people (2666 passengers and 1045 crew) on board.
Of those tested, 696 (18.8%) tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), of which 410 (58.9%) were asymptomatic. We also confirmed that 54% of the asymptomatic patients with a positive RT-PCR result had lung opacities on chest computed tomography. There were many difficulties in implementing quarantine, such as creating a dividing traffic line between infectious and noninfectious passengers, finding hospitals and transportation providers willing to accept these patients, transporting individuals, language barriers, and supporting daily life. As of March 8, 2020, 31 patients (4.5% of patients with positive RT-PCR results) were hospitalized and required ventilator support or intensive care, and 7 patients (1.0% of patients with positive RT-PCR results) had died.
There were several difficulties in implementing large-scale quarantine and obtaining medical support on the cruise ship. In the future, we need to prepare for patients' transfer and the admitting hospitals when disembarking the passengers. We recommend treating the crew the same way as the passengers to control the infection. We must also draw a plan for the future, to protect travelers and passengers from emerging infectious diseases on cruise ships.
2020 年 2 月，日本对“钻石公主”号邮轮实施了大规模检疫，试图控制新型冠状病毒严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2（SARS-CoV-2）的传播。
描述在邮轮上启动的医疗活动和实施检疫的困难。
对船上的 3711 人（2666 名乘客和 1045 名船员）进行了 SARS-CoV-2 的逆转录-聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）检测。
在接受检测的人群中，696 人（18.8%）新冠病毒检测呈阳性，其中 410 人（58.9%）无症状。我们还证实，54%RT-PCR 结果阳性的无症状患者胸部计算机断层扫描有肺部阴影。实施检疫存在许多困难，例如在感染乘客和非感染乘客之间创建分隔的交通线，寻找愿意接收这些患者的医院和运输提供商，运送个人，语言障碍和支持日常生活。截至 2020 年 3 月 8 日，31 名患者（RT-PCR 阳性结果患者的 4.5%）住院，需要呼吸机支持或重症监护，7 名患者（RT-PCR 阳性结果患者的 1.0%）死亡。
在邮轮上实施大规模检疫和获得医疗支持存在一些困难。未来，我们需要在乘客下船时为患者转移和接收医院做好准备。我们建议对船员采取与乘客相同的治疗方法来控制感染。我们还必须为未来制定计划，以保护旅行者和乘客免受邮轮上新发传染病的侵害。
