SARS just wont go away... 1000 quarantined in Toronto

New SARS fears put 1,000 in quarantine
2 deaths at North York General being probed
Officials caution against panic as tourism ads pulled


KAREN PALMER AND TANYA TALAGA
STAFF REPORTERS

At least 25 people are being investigated for SARS and 1,000 more are in quarantine after an undetected suspected case of SARS spread through a ward at North York General Hospital and into St. John's Rehabilitation Hospital.

Health officials are also investigating the deaths of two people � a 96-year-old and a patient believed to be at least 80 � to determine whether SARS was a factor.

www.torontostar.com.../Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1052251641 991&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154

this is most unfortunate as the Canadians seemed to be getting it under control in time to worry about Nile and BSE.
Without in any sense wishing to appear callous, it may be of some comfort that the possible victims were very old.
In my city, we had three confirmed in the last 8 weeks: all were young nurses in their twenties and all have now recovered.

Dragon rider........that link you gave does not work....sais something of id rendered......

just when we think we're finally rid of it...
what I'm worried about, though, it a large resurgence of SARS in the fall. I wonder if it might go somewhat dormant in the warmer months (like colds and flus) and come back with a vengance in the fall. I guess we can only wait and see.

There are some positive signs that the SARS outbreak in China may be easing, but health specialists say the country was hardest hit by the virus partly because of its initial reluctance to report cases, its sheer size and the weakness in its public health system.
"The numbers are going down; that is very encouraging," Dr. Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organization's representative in China, said Tuesday. He warned, however, that China remains "the battleground" in the war against SARS.
Meanwhile, SARS may be making a comeback in Canada, where five possible new cases were reported Thursday � a week after the WHO said Canada had the virus contained. At least 40 more people may have been exposed to SARS after visiting two hospitals where the five new possible cases emerged in the previous day, Canadian health officials said yesterday.


www.washtimes.com...

TAIPEI, Taiwan � Toronto was back on the map of SARS (search) trouble spots Monday after health officials there confirmed three new deaths and eight new cases. In Taiwan (search), the health chief for the island's capital resigned to take responsibility for a SARS outbreak at a hospital.

Toronto thought it had shaken severe acute respiratory syndrome after reporting the biggest outbreak outside Asia in April. But news emerged last week of the possible new cases, and officials acknowledged that Canada could have between 30 and 40 cases that went undetected.

www.foxnews.com...

I do a lot of business with canada so I gues I'm in touch every day with someone there.
It's very bad luck for the Canadians, but I'm tempted to observe that -in democratic Canada where there was a great deal of talk about voluntary quarantine, about perhaps a fine etc. it's not under control; and in China -once the Govt. came clean - it is under control: in China, when you're quarantined: you're quarantined - - patients, nurses, doctors everyone: anyone disobeying risks severe sentence sincluding death.
Now, SARS was media-hype, nothing more: but it would be interesting to see how democracies would cope with a genuine natural or man-made epidemic.

We won't ever see SARS go completely away because it apparently has an animal reservoir (it infects some animals that come into contact with humans.)

Like the flu.

I'll predict that this outbreak will be minor. In two years, people will stop screaming and flinching every time there's a case or four of SARS in a city.

A Lufkin woman who exhibited symptoms associated with the SARS virus after returning from Taiwan earlier this month is being isolated in a family member's home while health officials contact dozens of East Texas residents with whom the woman had contact, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Health said Tuesday.

The state health department and two local health agencies began investigating the case over the weekend after the woman reported symptoms such as respiratory problems associated with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, said TDH spokesman Doug McBride.

"The chances of this person actually having SARS are very low and the chances of it being transmitted to someone else are even lower, but we're taking these precautionary steps," McBride said.

www.mysanantonio.com...

BEIJING (AP)--Forestry officials in southern China seized pheasants, foxes and other game in raids on wildlife markets under new restrictions meant to control SARS, while hundreds of people in Canada were kept under quarantine following a renewed outbreak.

A Russian hospitalized on the Chinese border was diagnosed with SARS on Wednesday, becoming Russia's first official case of the respiratory ailment, media reports said. ``The diagnosis is unquestionable: This is SARS,'' Gennady Onishchenko, the country's chief epidemiologist, told the Interfax news agency.

www.ajc.com...

MOSCOW/TORONTO (Reuters) - Russia reported its first case of SARS (news - web sites) on Wednesday on its border with hard-hit China, while two more people died from the virus in Toronto, where a school was closed and thousands quarantined on concern the illness may be spreading outside hospitals.

The first confirmed case of SARS in Russia, a man living in Blagoveshchensk on the Amur river, which forms the frontier with China, came as Chinese President Hu Jintao tried to persuade the world his country could contain the disease.

story.news.yahoo.com.../nm/20030528/wl_nm/sars_dc

Do you think SARS will spread to the United States, if so, how soon?

Without doubt. As to when, that is the $64 question.

Good grief -when I first read dragon-R's Chinese release I thought it said that they'd seized "peasants".
Seriously, I had an e-mail from a former member fo my staff who has just returned to Ontario to continue his students and he tells me it's a bigger panic than we had in China.

They say ti could have been spread because of cats that Chinese people ate as a delecacy. People been eating wild and domestic cats for thousands of years there, now all the sudden, it breaks out? Unlikely.

I still think its bio warfare.

Well, at least its not execution....

A top Canadian health official has warned people that they might have to be "chained to a bed" if they violate the strict Sars quarantine rules in Toronto.
The Toronto authorities are investigating four deaths linked to Sars which have raised fears that the outbreak could be spreading further than previously thought.

The deaths last week happened at a hospital away from areas identified as being affected by the pneumonia-like illness.

"I don't know how people will like this, but we can chain them to a bed if that's what it takes," said Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Originally posted by 10DeadInside10
Do you think SARS will spread to the United States, if so, how soon?

It's already here. Been here for months.

There haven't been any deaths for the media to shriek and scream over. Just 364 "suspicious illnesses that look like SARS" and 66 confirmed cases.
www.cdc.gov...

The reason SARS passes so easily from one person to another has been discovered: the SARS virus can live for as long as 3 days on walls, glass, plastic, stainless steel and other common household and hospital surfaces. WHO spokesman Iain Simpson says, "It is very difficult to give it a specific length of time because it varies from surface to surface and even place to place." Most viruses do not last nearly that long on exposed surfaces.
This means that if a family member gets SARS, everyone who comes to the house will be likely to get it unless all surfaces are carefully sterilized. Also, when the SARS virus is deposited on surfaces in hospitals, it has plenty of time to be picked up spread around, unless everything that comes in contact with SARS patients is thoroughly disinfected.

www.unknowncountry.com...

Here'smore bad news

TORONTO (AP) Canadian health authorities are investigating whether a medical resident who worked in a Toronto hospital maternity ward has SARS, an official said Friday in a setback to the city's efforts to control a second outbreak of the disease.

Globally, only a dribble of new SARS cases were reported Friday in the hardest-hit areas China, Taiwan and Hong Kong during a worldwide trend of remission. But Thailand, which has been unscathed by the epidemic, reported a new infection, only its ninth.

In Toronto, Dr. Donald Low, a microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital, said the resident likely was exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome on May 23 at another hospital, but went 12 days before first showing symptoms.

That is two days longer than what health authorities believe is the incubation period for the disease

www.boston.com...

hear from someone who lives in toronto they thought it was gone then a spike in causes occured as the virus resurged back it's some scary times, i'm just happy that my chances of dieing are lower since i'm younger