Health officials confirmed on Friday that a crew member has a case of leprosy aboard a cruise ship housing Olympic personnel.

The cruise ship was anchored in the city's harbor that houses police and Canadian Forces personnel providing security for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The officials said that the unnamed man has already been sent back to his country of origin to receive treatment, and that he was in Canada only because the cruise ship he worked on had been hired to provide housing for Olympic security staff.

Dr. Perry Kendall, B. C.'s chief medical officer of health, said on Friday, "This just happens to be a coincidence, that the individual happens to be working or was working on one of the ships that are housing the personnel who are doing security for the Olympics".

The man, according to Kendall, worked as a below-decks crew member and didn't have contact with the Olympic staff or the public, adding that the man posed a bigger risk to the already embattled reputation of the Vancouver Games than he did to anyone in Vancouver.

"I think the major concern is that the British media will run off with this", said Kendall, who is originally from England.

However, Kendall did not reveal where the man was from.