Barbie
06-11-2003, 04:13 PM
Questions arise about North Carolina-Toronto SARS link
Last Updated Tue, 10 Jun 2003 20:27:45
RALEIGH, N.C. - Canadian officials are wondering if a North Carolina man really did contract SARS in Toronto.
INDEPTH: SARS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Health officials in the southeastern U.S. state say he visited a medical centre in Toronto and came into contact with a person who had severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The unidentified 47-year-old man is in stable condition and recovering at home in isolation in Orange County.
FROM JUNE 9, 2003: New SARS outbreak feared at dialysis clinic
He spent time in Toronto in May, and developed SARS symptoms within 10 days of leaving.
But officials at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto said Tuesday that their only SARS patient in that time period was not showing symptoms and therefore should not have been contagious.
Nor has anyone else there, patients or staff, come down with SARS since then. The only patient that did have SARS could be traced back to the "second wave" outbreak at North York General Hospital. That person was not symptomatic during the time the North Carolina man visited their facility.
Health Minister Anne McLellan said during question period that the person in question didn't show any SARS symptoms until long after he'd returned to North Carolina.
Canadian officials big help: doctor
Dr. Megan Davies, an epidemiologist with the North Carolina Department of Health, said Canadian health authorities at the local, provincial and federal levels helped track the case back to a likely infection point.
"With their assistance, we have been able to identify that he was exposed to a known case of SARS," said Davies. "So it was not a casual visit to Toronto that resulted in illness. He actually was exposed to a known case."
Davies said some spread of infection among countries is inevitable with such a new unknown disease.
"I don't think of this as Canada exporting a case," she said. "I think we have a worldwide epidemic of an emerging pathogen that none of us understand completely yet."
According to the World Health Organization, 8,421 probable SARS cases and 784 deaths have been reported. The Centers for Disease Control reports the worldwide mortality rate at eight per cent.
Canada has had 33 deaths from SARS, all in the Toronto area.
Crossing the border is pretty damn easy after all (http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/06/10/sars030610)
Last Updated Tue, 10 Jun 2003 20:27:45
RALEIGH, N.C. - Canadian officials are wondering if a North Carolina man really did contract SARS in Toronto.
INDEPTH: SARS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Health officials in the southeastern U.S. state say he visited a medical centre in Toronto and came into contact with a person who had severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The unidentified 47-year-old man is in stable condition and recovering at home in isolation in Orange County.
FROM JUNE 9, 2003: New SARS outbreak feared at dialysis clinic
He spent time in Toronto in May, and developed SARS symptoms within 10 days of leaving.
But officials at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto said Tuesday that their only SARS patient in that time period was not showing symptoms and therefore should not have been contagious.
Nor has anyone else there, patients or staff, come down with SARS since then. The only patient that did have SARS could be traced back to the "second wave" outbreak at North York General Hospital. That person was not symptomatic during the time the North Carolina man visited their facility.
Health Minister Anne McLellan said during question period that the person in question didn't show any SARS symptoms until long after he'd returned to North Carolina.
Canadian officials big help: doctor
Dr. Megan Davies, an epidemiologist with the North Carolina Department of Health, said Canadian health authorities at the local, provincial and federal levels helped track the case back to a likely infection point.
"With their assistance, we have been able to identify that he was exposed to a known case of SARS," said Davies. "So it was not a casual visit to Toronto that resulted in illness. He actually was exposed to a known case."
Davies said some spread of infection among countries is inevitable with such a new unknown disease.
"I don't think of this as Canada exporting a case," she said. "I think we have a worldwide epidemic of an emerging pathogen that none of us understand completely yet."
According to the World Health Organization, 8,421 probable SARS cases and 784 deaths have been reported. The Centers for Disease Control reports the worldwide mortality rate at eight per cent.
Canada has had 33 deaths from SARS, all in the Toronto area.
Crossing the border is pretty damn easy after all (http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/06/10/sars030610)