NEWS: Toronto: Mystery Illness kills 10

Two years ago, Toronto was hit by SARS. Now it is in the grip of another mystery ailment, which althought similar - authorities inisist it isn't. The out break first occured at an aged care facility, and thus far the facility still isn't under quarantine. This new ailment has claimed 10 lives so far, nine of which were senior citizens of the retirement village, one was a healthy aged care worker.



It seems that after two years, Toronto is back in the spotlight, and it seems that the Canadians would be expected to move on this new mystery bug, as they were criticised heavily for their slow reactions to the deadly SARS outbreak. One would not guess that this is the case as the Index Patient was recorded on the September 25, and there is still no quarantine in place at the retirement village.

Some are linking this to H5N1. Very scarey if that is the case.

Dr. McKeown provided the following update:

- Since yesterday there have been four additional deaths,
for a total of ten in the outbreak.

- The outbreak has so far affected a total of 70 residents,
12 employees and two visitors at Seven Oaks.

- 40 residents from Seven Oaks have been admitted to hospital.

There has still been no etiological agent identified, so negative data for H5N1 remains suspect.

www.recombinomics.com...

This kind of news is really going to hammer the tourism trade again..

Hope they get a handle on it.

It's hard to judge a report like this when the Toronto medical people didn't apparently give out details about the symptoms the elders died of. There are a lot of respiratory viruses out there, and bacterial superinfectious agents too. Elderly persons are usually less robust than younger persons, which might be why so many died. One might expect, though, that an older person might have more antibody protection from more-numerous past infections through the years, although such antibody titers might drop off a lot, there might still be some protection compared to younger populations. Maybe ther IS a "new" dangerous bug coming in now.

indications are that the pathogen is respiratory airborne.

Since the illness spread at the 250-bed facility, 30 residents, many suffering from fits of coughing and other flu-like symptoms, have been admitted to seven different hospitals across Greater Toronto. Residents with less severe symptoms have been allowed to recover at the nursing home, which officials say will remain closed to new admissions and visitors until the outbreak is over.

From watching local 6 O'clock news, it appears those who are in charge of assessment/quarantine lack the appropriate bio-suits to protect even themselves. Absolutely terrible, since occupational hygiene and personal protection devices was top priority following the SARS outbreak.

These are the very same factors that were either missing or poorly controlled during the SARS outbreak.

[edit on 5-10-2005 by syntaxer]

Important story, this.

I've read that bird flu is being misdiagnosed in Indonesia - and often mistaken for dengue fever.

...In the USA - who would ever know if bird flu is around? ...Over 45.8 million people don't have medical insurance - and most who do have inadequate coverage. ...So no one seeks medical care until the virus has evolved to a different form. The it's misdiagnosed.

Looks like it's rolling...



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