Replies

Turlock [CA] girl showing SARS symptoms [Turlock is 15 miles from Modesto]

By KEN CARLSON
BEE STAFF WRITER

Published: April 5, 2003, 05:52:50 AM PST

A 6-year-old Turlock girl has been identified with a SARS-like illness after her father returned from the Guangdong province of China, where the mysterious respiratory illness is believed to have originated.
If the girl is confirmed to have SARS, it would be the first case recorded in Stanislaus County.

The girl, an afternoon kindergartner at Julien School, has pneumonia with a high fever and is in voluntary isolation at home.

Dr. John Walker, the county's public health officer, said officials had not confirmed that the girl has SARS, but her symptoms and the possible path of transmission from China prompted him to make a public announcement Friday.

SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, has infected some 1,190 people in China, killing 46. It has infected more than 2,300 people worldwide, with 84 reported deaths -- none in the United States.

The girl's father was ill with a respiratory illness when he returned from China 2 1/2 weeks ago. He now is well, and officials were unable to determine if he had the high fever associated with SARS.

His daughter came down with a cough 13 days ago. She continued to attend Julien School, on Canal Drive, until Wednesday, school officials said. She stayed home Thursday and Friday.

Six other students in the kindergarten class were out sick Friday, but there was no indication that they had the virus, said Eloise Reyes Preiss, assistant superintendent of elementary education for the Turlock School Districts.

Friday morning, a Turlock physician called the county Health Services Agency to report the suspected case, and Walker went public at a 4 p.m. news conference in Modesto.

Walker said the father did not technically meet the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's criteria for the respiratory illness, as it was never documented that he had a high fever. By the time he went to a doctor two weeks after he became ill, he did not have a fever, Walker said.

"Nevertheless," the doctor said, "we have chosen to take precautionary measures, in part, because of the parent's travel history and, in part, because it is a schoolchild."

Father's, child's blood to be tested

Blood samples have been taken for analysis by a state laboratory. The father's test might not be conclusive because the sample was taken so long after he became ill; the child's test results are expected in three weeks.

Turlock school officials sent letters home Friday to notify parents of the suspected case and provide information about the disease. Officials said there is no need to keep children home from school, unless they have symptoms. If they exhibit symptoms, parents should contact their doctors.

A separate letter went to parents of children in the girl's class, advising the parents to take their children's temperatures daily for 10 days. In addition, for the next 10 days starting Monday, school nurses plan to screen the girl's classmates before admitting them.

Desks and other surfaces in the classroom will be scrubbed this weekend, but the classroom will not be closed, Preiss said.

Girl had visited doctor's office

Public health officials are trying to track down anyone who might have sat next to the girl in the doctor's office waiting room. Office employees have been advised to monitor themselves for fever for the next 10 days.

Officials would not identify the doctor, and they also withheld the names of the girl and her father.

Walker said the man had gone to China to visit family, and there was no indication that he traveled there frequently for business or other reasons.

Since SARS emerged in November, it has spread from China to Vietnam and Singapore, elsewhere in Asia, and to other continents.

The United States has tallied 115 suspected cases. In California, the cases have involved people who recently had returned from Asia.

Walker said officials would prefer to have known earlier about the suspected case in Turlock. He noted that the case arose at a time when normal spring flu bugs are going around.

"The risk remains low," he said. "It's important to know that not everyone who has a fever and cough is suspected of SARS."

The suspected case prompted the county to send its third bulletin since March 18 to hospitals and other care providers, asking them to get travel histories from patients who report symptoms.

If confirmed cases arise, the plan is for health workers to take precautions in dealing with patients and to place seriously ill people in isolated areas of hospitals, Walker said.

He said the best evidence suggests that the virus is spread when infected people sneeze or cough, and people nearby come in contact with the droplets emitted.

Symptoms may include muscle aches and pains and headache, followed by sudden onset of fever greater than 100.4 degrees. Those infected also have a dry cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.

Bee staff writer Ken Carlson can be reached at 578-2321 or kcarlson@modbee.com.

http://modestobee.com/local/story/6505725p-7449241c.html