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Next time you go on a cruise ship, don’t jump straight in the hot tub
Cruise ship hot tubs are unsavory places at the best of times depending on the cruise ship, of course. But in case you needed another reason to be turned off them, theyve just been blamed for two outbreaks of severe pneumonia.
More like floating cities than actual boats, a single cruise ship can emit as much carbon dioxide as a million cars in a day. They also pump out ghastly quantities of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter, all of which are damaging to the health of ecosystems and humans alike. And yet they continue to ply the worlds waters, in some cases for up to nine months at a time, throwing ice cream parties to allegedly free up space in the morgue whenever passengers die in too-large numbers.
Cruise ship hot tubs likely to blame for outbreaks of Legionnaires disease
The CDC recently concluded that two outbreaks of Legionnaires disease, both of which extended into 2024, were likely the result of people sharing hot tubs on cruise ships.
Legionnaires disease is a serious form of pneumonia caused by the Legionella bacteria. If hot tubs are poorly maintained, badly operated, and inadequately cleaned, they can be perfect growth and transmission zones for Legionella (and other) bacteria.
Cases of the disease were reported on two cruise ships between November 2022 and June 2024. According to the CDC, evidence suggests that private balcony hot tubs were the likely source of exposure.
Private jacuzzis are less stringently cleaned than public ones, apparently. On the two ships that experienced the pneumonia outbreaks, operating protocols were subpar, and insufficient to prevent the growth of the harmful bacteria.
Ex-ship crew member warns cruise ship passengers never to use hot tubs
Don’t use the hot tubs, one former cruise ship crew member once told the Express. All cruise lines don’t run them hot enough.
Trust me, it’s easy to pick up some bacterial infections like ringworm because of this.
According to the paper, in 2013 a passenger allegedly contracted hot tub folliculitis, a condition that causes inflammation of the hair follicles, from a hot tub on board a cruise ship.
“The entire leg turned black and they wanted to amputate,” the paper quotes his attorney as saying, at the time. He reportedly almost lost his limb.
The cruise line responsible for the ship said it takes sanitation and cleanliness very seriously and denied it was in any way responsible for the emergency.
This may well be true, but the fact remains given the new revelations about Legionella bacteria in private balcony hot tubs that warm water and multiple nearly-naked bodies make for a melting pot of potential bacterial growth.
