SARS Sending California
and the Pacific Into Confusion
The Sierra Times
4-4-3
SAN FRANCISCO -- According to the Associated Press California, gateway
to the Pacific rim and home to the nation's largest Asian population,
has the highest number of suspected U.S. cases of a mysterious new
respiratory illness that first appeared in Asia.
But state and local health officials say the disease is well under
control, and all of those sick with severe respiratory acute syndrome,
or SARS, are recovering or expected to recover.
"This doesn't seem to be a disease that people are picking up at the
grocery store or at a bus station," said Dr. Susan Fernyak of the San
Francisco County Health Department. "It's not time to run out and buy
white surgical masks."
But then again...
Orange County health officials said two people who recently traveled to
mainland China have contracted a flu-like mystery illness that has
killed 78 people worldwide.
The Orange County Health Care Agency would not release information
about the patients on Wednesday except to say that one was roughly 40
years old, and the other around 60. Neither of the cases were related
and both people did not travel together.
Neither person is very ill, but they have been asked to stay at home
until 10 days after their symptoms disappear to ensure they don't
spread the disease, said Dr. Hildy Myers, medical director of
assessment and epidemiology for the Orange County Health Care Agency.
The county is sending specimens from the patients to the California
Department of Health Services for further evaluation, Meyers said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reports that
California has 19 suspected cases - the most for any state. And state
health officials say they are investigating another 12 cases.
Of those 31 suspected cases, at least 17 traveled to southeast Asia in
recent weeks, and three others share homes with travelers to Asia. No
health care workers have been infected so far, state health officials
said Wednesday.
Authorities aren't sure why California's cases appear to be less
virulent than those in Asia, where most of the deaths - at least 78
worldwide - have occurred.
Fernyak said California's cases may be from third or fourth generations
of the germ, which could weaken each time it is passed along. Also, the
state's different climate and lower population density may be factors,
she said.
But these are just theories. No one has conclusively proved what causes
the disease, although U.S. health officials say they are 90 percent
sure it's a new form of the coronavirus, one of the causes of the
common cold.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked local health
departments to help track down 140 Americans who stayed at Hong Kong's
Metropole Hotel on Feb. 21 or Feb. 22, the same time a Chinese doctor
who was dying of the disease was staying there. Most of those people -
118 - are from California.
The impact on business activity is widening from Hong Kong around the
globe, disrupting complex supply chains and forcing industries from
airlines to banking to adjust how they operate.
On Tuesday, an American Airlines flight from Tokyo was isolated on the
tarmac at San Jose's international airport after the captain reported
that five people on board might have symptoms of SARS. It turned out to
be a false alarm.
Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County director of public health,
notes that the number of suspected cases in California is small
considering the state's population of 34 million. Health officials also
say the number seems low because California is home to 3.7 million
Asians and a key point in the brisk tide of people crossing the Pacific
Ocean.
San Francisco, with a population that's 31 percent Asian, has reported
just a single suspected case.
At least 11 other people in the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area are
suspected of falling ill. Los Angeles County has reported seven
possible cases.
http://www.sierratimes.com/03/04/04/articleca.htm