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A cruise ship belonging to the Church of Scientology, which has a woman among its crew and who has a case of measles on board, has departed St. Lucia, according to marinetraffic.com.
The Chief Medical Officer of St. Lucia said Thursday that the ship would probably leave Port Castries where it was moored for its port of call that night. The Church of Scientology says on its website that the port of attachment of the ship is in Curacao.
The Freewinds, with about 300 crew members and passengers, has been quarantined in a port in the Caribbean capital since officials discovered that the person on board was suffering from the highly contagious disease, said the Dr. Merlene Fredericks-James, Chief Medical Officer.
On Thursday, the ship's doctor asked for 100 doses of measles vaccine, according to a statement from the Saint Lucia Ministry of Health and Welfare, "and this is currently coming from our supplies, at no cost."
Crew members and passengers are monitored by the ship's doctor, the statement said. "Continuous monitoring is necessary because the incubation period of measles ranges from 10 to 12 days before symptoms occur in exposed individuals," the statement added.
No one on the ship was allowed to disembark.
Fredericks-James said "given the highly infectious nature of the disease, it is likely that other people have been exposed."
The ship arrived in Saint Lucia on Tuesday and was scheduled to depart on Thursday, according to a schedule posted on the website of the St. Lucia Ports and Seaports Authority.
The Church of Scientology has not responded to CNN's request for comment. It is written on his website that the ship is a religious retreat at the top of a Scientologist's spiritual journey.
Depending on when other passengers have been exposed, it may not be too late to receive a measles vaccine.
According to Tim Moody, former president of
Coalition Against Emerging Threats to Public Health and Emergency Response
a person who has never been vaccinated against measles and is exposed to measles has 72 hours to receive a vaccine. If they have already contracted the disease, the vaccine should reduce its severity.
Using quarantine to help control an outbreak, though uncomfortable, is an important public health option, said Rebecca Katz, director of the Center for Global Health Science and Safety at the University of Toronto. 39, Georgetown University.
"Quarantine is a word people react to very strongly, but it's actually one of the most powerful tools in the public health toolkit," Katz said. "But because it restricts civil liberties, most public health officials are very cautious."
Each state has laws in place that allow for quarantine and other public health enforcement tools. These laws differ from one country to another. For anyone who refuses to cooperate, actions can range from issuing a solitary order, "registering once a day via the Internet, placing a tracking device on a person, or placing an armed guard outside home, "said Katz.
"Sometimes people feel like they're being treated like criminals," Katz added. "The goal is to be treated as if you were doing something that contributes to your society and to be treated as a criminal if you disobey."
Fredericks-James had previously stated that health officials were using the authority conferred on them by the country's quarantine law and public health law.
Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus that can spread in the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes or when someone comes in direct contact or shares germs while touching the same objects or surfaces. Symptoms may include fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes and a rash of red pimples.
Measles case in the United States
have exceeded the highest number
since the disease was declared eliminated nationally in 2000.
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