Wikipedia page about this book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_Ship

Release date is 2005-10-23

Produced by Jason Isbell, Greg Weeks, Cori Samuel and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

"Plague Ship" by Andre Norton is a science fiction novel published in 1956. When the crew of the Free Trader rocket ship Solar Queen secures a valuable contract with the cat-like Salariki on planet Sargol, they seem destined for success. But after departing with their cargo of rare Koros stones, crew members begin falling into mysterious comas. Declared a plague ship and cast out as pariahs, only four young crew members remain healthy enough to uncover the truth behind the illness—and clear their ship's name before it's too late. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Original publication data not identified