A quarantined cruise ship belonging to the Church of Scientology

Health officials from the Caribbean island of St Lucia have quarantined a cruise ship after discovering a measles case on board.

Authorities confirmed the case Tuesday morning, said Dr. Merlene Fredericks James, Chief Medical Officer of St. Lucia. The ship was locked later in the day, with the goal of preventing any spread of the highly contagious disease that makes people sick in the US at a record pace, fueled by misinformation anti-vaccination.

"No one has been allowed to leave the ship," said Fredericks James in a statement.

"Due to the risk of potential infection, not only from the case of confirmed measles, but also from other people who might be on the boat at that time, we considered it prudent to make the decision not to allow no one to disembark. "

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The island has been avoiding an outbreak of the disease locally since 1990, said Dr. Michelle Francois, acting national epidemiologist, in another statement. But while measles cases continue to increase in the United States and other areas with tourist links to St. Lucia, locals are getting ready, fearing the virus may be found there. on board an airplane or a boat.

Nearly 300 passengers are currently on the quarantined ship, and the confirmed case has been found in a female crew member, reported NBC News.

Health officials did not identify the cruise ship, but a St. Lucia Coast Guard sergeant told NBC that the vessel was "Freewinds", the 200-meter vessel belonging to the Church of St Lucia. Scientology.

Representatives of the Church of Scientology did not respond to requests for comment.

The Vessel Tracking Website, MarineTraffic.com, shows a Freewinds – the only passenger ship it has registered under this name – moored at a port in St Lucia. The photographs of the craft seem to match those of the Scientology website.

The controversial religious organization calls the Freewinds "a very special place". For a Scientologist, boarding the ship is "the most important spiritual accomplishment of his life and brings about the full realization of his immortality".

A glitzy video tour, published on Scientology's YouTube page in 2013, promises a "distraction-free environment to provide the highest level of spiritual advice available in the religion of Scientology" – what's known as "l & rsquo; "Audit", which involves a gross lie detector and the revelation of his deepest and most intimate fears.

In an interview with the Beliefnet website, Reverend John Carmichael, a member of Scientology, said that the organization had no official rules regarding vaccination.

"Scientologists are quite independent people, but I will say this: they tend to do a little more research, perhaps on the effects of various medical or other procedures," Carmichael said. "They make their own decisions, but these are not decisions that the church tries to influence in any way."

However, the Hollywood Reporter wrote that "a notable number of the most prominent dissidents in vaccination are Scientologists" who have helped to "ignite the wars of vaccination."

While measles – and the fear of it – has spread, quarantines and scares have become more and more commonplace. Last week, hundreds of students, staff and faculty from two California universities were quarantined after officials learned that they may have been exposed to the disease on the ground. campus.

Orders in St. Lucia and California, along with other urgent public health measures in New York and the United States, come as the number of cases in the country has reached a 25-year high . This year, more than 700 people were infected – the highest number of cases since measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.