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The first norovirus outbreak of the year aboard a cruise ship has, as luck would have it, sickened a number of passengers aboard the high-profile Queen Elizabeth 2 at the outset of a 106-night world cruise.

Several representatives of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control boarded the ship Jan. 18th when it docked in Acapulco, Mexico, after Cunard reported that 263 passengers and 27 crewmembers had shown signs of norovirus.

A Cunard spokesperson said the problem had begun on the Queen Elizabeth's trans-Atlantic crossing, and said the number of passengers showing signs of norovirus was already declining before the ship started its world cruise from Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 10th.

The approximately 16 percent of Queen Elizabeth passengers affected was slightly less than the 19 percent sickened last November on cruise ship Carnival Liberty during a 16-day trans-Atlantic crossing.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 28 outbreaks of norovirus on cruise ships in 2006 -- double the number of the previous year -- in which the number of cases exceeded 3 percent of total passengers.

Eight additional cruises probably were affected by the norovirus, but testing did not positively confirm norovirus as the cause of the vomiting and diarrhea, which tends to last 48 to 72 hours. One additional outbreak was caused by bacteria, the CDC said.

While cruise ships receive a lot of attention because they are required to report significant outbreaks of norovirus to the CDC, it also seems to be a widespread problem this winter on land.

Just this week, a Hilton hotel at Washington's Dulles Airport was forced to close and send its guests elsewhere so crews could sanitize every surface after about 120 employees and guests were sickened by the norovirus.

A nursing home in Michigan was also forced to close for cleaning after residents and workers displayed classic norovirus symptoms. And more than 100 prisoners at a Michigan correctional facility were under a medical lockdown because of an outbreak of the Norovirus.