TALLINN - Seven passengers on board a cruise ship that recently docked in Tallinn have been hospitalized after a suspected outbreak of the debilitating Legionnaires' disease.
The passengers were in the middle of a 17-day cruise on the ship Black Watch when they began complaining of flu-like symptoms.
The ship had passed through Lulea, Kemi, Turku, Tallinn and St Petersburg, and was en route to Stockholm on July 27 when the illness was noticed.
Seven passengers were taken to hospital in Stockholm, where the possibility of Legionnaires' Disease was first raised. On July 31 Swedish doctors confirmed two elderly passengers had contracted Legionnaires' Disease, a water-borne bacterial infection that causes pneumonia and other symptoms.
Legionnaire's is often spread through air conditioning systems and water systems such as spas, pools and fountains, and has a mortality rate of 5 percent if treated.
The cause of the illness remains a mystery, although pool or air systems on board are high on the suspect list. Some passengers suggested the disease could have been contracted in St Petersburg.
Fred Olsen Cruise Line, the operator of the ship, said it would disinfect its vessel before it commenced its next voyage.
In a separate scare, the Estonian Veterinary and Food Board said it was investigating a suspected case of Newcastle Disease at a poultry farm in Viljandi county.
Random testing of chickens at the small farm returned a positive result for Newcastle Disease, a crippling illness that affects birds but not humans.
Blood samples have now been sent to the United Kingdom for further analysis.
Olev Kalda, deputy director general of the Veterinary and Food Board, said the chickens did not show clinical signs of Newcastle Disease, but the farm had been quarantined as a precaution.
He said the last outbreak of Newcastle Disease in Estonia was in the 1960s.
