Posted on 05/24/2003 5:17:01 PM PDT by CathyRyan
TORONTO (Reuters) - Ontario health officials said on Saturday they were monitoring 33 people for the deadly SARS virus with another 500 in quarantine and warned that the number of suspected cases could grow in coming days.
The possible SARS cases, up from 25 on Friday, have put hospital emergency rooms on high alert and raised concerns that the World Health Organization may again slap a travel advisory on Canada's largest city. Nurses are again wearing full-face masks and double gloves to protect themselves.
The U.N. agency last week said Canada was free of the spread of the deadly disease, which has killed 24 people in the Toronto area, the only place outside Asia where there have been SARS deaths. Officials are also investigating two more deaths to determine if they are SARS related.
All told, there have been 257 probable cases of SARS in Ontario province. Six remain hospitalized.
"This is still an institutional outbreak," said Dr. Donald Low, chief of microbiology at Mount Sinai Hospital. "This is not a disease that does well in the community."
Health officials said the public should not panic, but the news has prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to tell travelers to take care if they visit Canada's largest city.
For several weeks it seemed Canada's battle with SARS was nearly over. No new cases had been recorded since April 19, a month after the outbreak first started in Canada in mid March.
"The cases do not currently meet the probable or suspect case definition set out by the WHO and the CDC," said Dr. Colin D'Cunha, Ontario's chief medical officer of health. He said officials were treating them as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome to be safe. The new possible cases, along with the discovery of mad cow disease in Alberta, is sending shock waves through the economy of Toronto and Canada. The United States and several other countries have banned Canadian beef imports.
Canadian health officials have also warned about West Nile virus as mosquito season starts with the summer near.
An editorial cartoon in Saturday's National Post showed a family exclaiming " AAh ... the weekend!" all dressed in head-to-toe protective suits, including the dog.
Toronto businesses are worried the summer might bring just a trickle of tourists instead of the millions who visit Toronto, which accounts for a fifth of Canada's economy.
"Economically, this (SARS) is far worse than the fallout from the (Sept. 11) terrorist attacks," Rod Seiling, president of the Greater Toronto Hotel Association, said. Occupancy levels were 46.7 percent in April at hotels in the greater Toronto area -- which has about 4.5 million people -- down from 68 percent in April 2002.
Most worry that another WHO travel advisory could send an economic recovery into a tailspin.
A WHO spokesman in Geneva said there was no talk or risk at the moment of a travel advisory being reinstated on Toronto.
WHO's Iain Simpson said in Geneva that Canada will get back to the agency with more information on Tuesday.
"Until then we won't know much more," he said.
You do realize, don't you, that all WE hear about the United States day in and day out is bad news from our media,?
Relax. We don't believe most of what we read until we have the facts.
I heard some people cough here and there, but I'd say people acted fairly normally. I would venture to say that The Shaw Festival will see a decline in attendence this year if folks are afraid to travel to Ontario at all. When I passed back through the US border, there was no questions at all about how I physically felt, etc.
Let's quit hospitalizing SARS patients, then, right?
SARS - WORLDWIDE (119): CASES *************************** A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases In today's update: [1] Worldwide - WHO [2] Taiwan - CDC Taiwan [3] China - WHO/Beijing Government [4] Hong Kong - DOH [5] Singapore - MOH [6] Canada - Health Canada [7] Travel Alert - CDC USA [8] News briefs [A] Canada [B] Canada [C] Cambodia - NOT [D] China - earlier cases? ********** [1] Date: 24 May 2003 From: ProMED-mail Source: WHO SARS website [edited] [A] Cumulative Number of Reported Probable Cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) From: 1 Nov 2002 To: 24 May 2003, 19:00 GMT+2 Country: Cumulative no.case(s)/ no. new cases since last WHO update/ no. deaths/ no. recovered/ date last probable case reported/ date cumulative no. cases is current Australia: 6/ 0/ 0/ 6/ 12/May/2003/ 22/May/2003 Brazil: 2/ 0/ 0/ 2/ 10/Apr/2003/ 24/Apr/2003 Canada: 140/ 0/ 23/ 109/ 4/May/2003/ 23/May/2003 China: 5309/ 34/ 308/ 2675/ 24/May/2003/ 24/May/2003 China, Hong Kong SAR: 1724/ 0/ 262/ 1266/ 23/May/2003/ 24/May/2003 China, Macao SAR: 2/ 0/ 0/ 0/ 21/May/2003/ 23/May/2003 China, Taiwan: 538/ 55/ 60/ 82/ 22/May/2003/ 22/May/2003 Colombia: 1/ 0/ 0/ 1/ 5/May/2003/ 5/May/2003 Finland: 1/ 0/ 0/ 1/ 7/May/2003/ 20/May/2003 France: 7/ 0/ 0/ 6/ 9/May/2003/ 22/May/2003 Germany: 9/ 0/ 0/ 9/ 9/May/2003/ 23/May/2003 India: 3/ 0/ 0/ 3/ 13/May/2003/ 14/May/2003 Indonesia: 2/ 0/ 0/ 2/ 23/Apr/2003/ 23/May/2003 Italy: 9/ 0/ 0/ 9/ 29/Apr/2003/ 24/May/2003 Kuwait: 1/ 0/ 0/ 1/ 9/Apr/2003/ 20/Apr/2003 Malaysia 8 0 2 5 20/May/2003 23/May/2003 Mongolia: 9/ 0/ 0/ 8/ 6/May/2003/ 19/May/2003 New Zealand: 1/ 0/ 0/ 1/ 30/Apr/2003/ 23/May/2003 Philippines: 12/ 0/ 2/ 10/ 15/May/2003/ 24/May/2003 Republic of Ireland: 1/ 0/ 0/ 1/ 21/Mar/2003/ 23/May/2003 Republic of Korea: 3/ 0/ 0/ 2/ 14/May/2003/ 23/May/2003 Romania: 1/ 0/ 0/ 1/ 27/Mar/2003/ 22/Apr/2003 Singapore: 206/ 0/ 31/ 163/ 18/May/2003/ 23/May/2003 South Africa: 1/ 0/ 1/ 0/ 9/Apr/2003/ 3/May/2003 Spain: 1/ 0/ 0/ 1/ 2/Apr/2003/ 7/May/2003 Sweden: 3/ 0/ 0/ 3/ 18/Apr/2003/ 13/May/2003 Switzerland: 1/ 0/ 0/ 1/ 17/Mar/2003/ 16/May/2003 Thailand: 8/ 0/ 2/ 5/ 13/May/2003/ 21/May/2003 United Kingdom: 4/ 0/ 0/ 4/ 29/Apr/2003/ 23/May/2003 United States: 65/ 0/ 0/ 33/ 17/May/2003/ 23/May/2003 Viet Nam: 63/ 0/ 5/ 58/ 14/Apr/2003/ 14/May/2003 Total: 8141/ 89/ 696/ 4468 Notes: Cumulative number of cases includes number of deaths. As SARS is a diagnosis of exclusion, the status of a reported case may change over time. This means that previously reported cases may be discarded after further investigation and follow-up. A decrease in the number of cumulative cases and discrepancies in the difference between cumulative number of cases of the last and the current WHO update are attributed to the discarding of cases. [B] Areas with recent local transmission and travel recommendations can be accessed at: and and are unchanged from yesterday's report. [C] Update 65 - Situation in Toronto 24 May 2003 Situation in Toronto --------------- Health authorities in Canada have today informed WHO that 2 clusters of cases of respiratory illness are undergoing investigation for respiratory illness, including pneumonia. One cluster of 5 cases is associated with St John's Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto. The second cluster of 26 cases, including 10 health care workers, is associated with North York General Hospital. One patient undergoing investigation has been linked to both hospitals. As a precaution, both clusters are being managed as possibly representing cases of SARS until proven otherwise. Results of laboratory, clinical, and epidemiological investigations are expected early next week. The status of Toronto, which was removed last week from the WHO list of areas with recent local transmission, remains unchanged pending further information made available as the investigations progress. Update on cases and countries --------------------------- As of today, a cumulative total of 8141 probable cases with 696 deaths have been reported from 28 countries. This represents an increase of 89 new cases and 7 deaths when compared with yesterday. The new deaths occurred in China (5) and Hong Kong SAR (2). All of the new cases were reported from 2 outbreak sites, Taiwan and China. Taiwan has today reported 55 new cases, bringing the cumulative total to 538 cases and 60 deaths. China reported 34 new cases, bringing the cumulative total to 5309 cases and 308 deaths. -- ProMED-mail ****** [2] Date: 24 May 2003 From: ProMED-mail Source: Taiwan CDC Taiwan [edited] SARS Update 24 May 2003 As of 9:00 AM ----------------------------- Cumulative Probable Cases: 548 New cases last 24 hours: 10 Released from hospital: 102 Cumulative Deaths reported to WHO: 60 Cumulative Suspect Cases: 1042 New cases last 24 hours: 29 Released from hospital: 168 Total of probable & suspect cases: 1590 (270 of which have been released from hospitals today) -- ProMED-mail ****** [3] Date: 24 May 2003 From: ProMED-mail Source: WHO SARS website/Beijing Government SARS website [edited] [The Beijing Government SARS website link is changed daily, but the WHO website maintains each daily report in archives. - Mod.MPP] Data on the daily reports of cases by province, probable cases, suspected cases, health care worker cases, number of deaths, number of cases discharged from the hospital, and dates of last reported cases (probable and suspected) can be accessed at the above WHO and Beijing Government links. There have been a total of 5309 probable cases reported to date, of which 34 are newly reported in past 24 hours. In the 24-hour period covered by this update, new probable cases were reported from Beijing (26), Hebei (1), Inner Mongolia (2), Liaoning (1), and Shanxi (4). An additional 1632 suspected cases have been reported from the affected provinces. No cases (probable or suspected) have been reported from Guizhou, Hainan, Qinghai, Tibet, Xinjiang, or Yunnan. There are a total of 308 deaths reported due to SARS, of which 5 were newly reported in the past 24 hours. Of the 34 probable cases reported in the past 24 hours, 30 had been previously reported as suspect cases. In Beijing, 24 of the 26 newly reported probable cases had previously been reported as suspected cases and 1 previously reported probable case was excluded. In Hebei, the 1 newly reported probable case had previously been reported as a suspected case and 6 probable cases were excluded, of which 2 were reclassified as suspect cases. In Inner Mongolia, both of the newly reported probable cases had previously been reported as suspected cases. In Shanxi, 2 of the 4 newly reported probable cases had been previously reported as suspected cases and 1 previously reported probable case was excluded. Case reports were received from 31 provinces/autonomous regions/municipalities. -- ProMED-mail ****** [4] Date: 24 May 2003 From: ProMED-mail Source: Hong Kong Department of Health [edited] ***Noteworthy: no new probable cases reported Situation report on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 24 May 2003 ------------------------------------- Hong Kong has recorded zero [new infections] for the first time since it [began waging] its war against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Speaking at a press briefing today (24 May 2003), Director of Health, Dr Margaret Chan, reminded members of the public not to be [caught] offguard in the prevention of SARS. "We are glad that the figures are improving significantly. However, there may still be fluctuations before the situation stabilizes," she said. "Therefore we must stay vigilant and take measures to avoid contracting the disease and prevent its spread." A total of 1266 patients have recovered from SARS and have been discharged from public hospitals. Of them, 11 were discharged today. There are now 119 active cases under treatment in hospitals, of whom 40 patients are in intensive care units. Most of the patients currently in hospital are showing positive responses to the treatment protocol. In addition, 77 are recovering patients in convalescence and in preparation for discharge. 2 patients died, bringing the total number of deaths attributable to SARS to 262. The deaths were in 2 men aged 35 and 88. The cumulative numbers of patients who have been admitted to public hospitals with SARS since 12 Mar 2003 are: Cumulative no. cases/ total no. discharged patients/ total no. deaths (change in past 24 hours presented in parentheses with minus sign for decrease) Health care workers of Hospitals/Clinics and medical students: 380 (0)/ 342 (1)/ ? Patients, family members & visitors: 1344 (0)/ 924 (10)/ ? Total: 1724 (0)/ 1266 (11) / 262 (2)/ 196 (-13) Total in hospital: 196 (-13) Recovering patients in convalescence: 77 Active cases: 119 (-27) (including 40 patients in Intensive Care Unit) Suspected cases: 9 Additional epidemiologic analyses are available in the daily SARS bulletin for 24 May 2003 There is a table with the average number of new cases reported per day by week demonstrating the steady decline in reporting: Period: Average no. of new cases reported per day 29 Mar -- 4 Apr 2003: 48 5 Apr -- 11 Apr 2003: 43 12 Apr -- 18 Apr 2003: 38 19 Apr -- 25 Apr 2003: 26 26 Apr -- 2 May 2003: 14 3 May -- 9 May 2003: 8 10 May -- 16 May 2003: 6 17 May -- 23 May 2003: 3 There is a bar-graph representation showing the cumulative number of discharged cases and fatal cases as a percentage of the cumulative total cases on the respective reporting date available at the above given weblink for the bulletin. As of 23 May 2003, 73 percent of the 1724 SARS cases have recovered and have been discharged from the hospital, and 15 percent of cases have died. -- ProMED-mail ****** [5] Date: 24 May 2003 From: ProMED-mail Source: Singapore Ministry of Health [edited] ** Noteworthy: no new probable cases reported SARS Situation update 24 May 2003 -------------------------- There were no new SARS probable cases reported today. One more patient has been discharged, bringing the total number of patients who have recovered from SARS to 164. 10 patients remained hospitalised, including 5 who are in intensive care. Suspect and Observation Cases -------------------------- There were no new suspect or observation cases admitted to [Tan Tock Seng Hospital] TTSH today. Quarantine Figures* ------------------ **Discharged patients under home quarantine = 486 Contacts under home quarantine = 42 Total under home quarantine orders = 528 *Quarantine cases refer to those who are required to stay at home for precautionary reasons as they may have had contact with a SARS patient. These are healthy individuals. ** This is an added precautionary measure for discharged SARS patients as well as those with co-morbidities. A summary of SARS cases is as follows: ---------------------------- Discharged: 164 Hospitalised: 10 (including 5 in ICU [intensive care unit]) Deaths: 31 Probable cases: 206* Suspect cases: 1 Observation cases: 3 *Includes 1 case who died from non-SARS causes -- ProMED-mail ****** [6] Date: 24 May 2003 From: ProMED-mail Source: Health Canada 23 May 2003 available for access 24 May 2003 [edited] Summary of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Cases: Canada 23 May 2003 ------------------------------------------------------------ Since 21 May 2003, no additional probable cases of SARS have been reported. The total number of probable cases reported to date in Canada, by reported symptom onset date and type of exposure (where known), is provided [in Figure 1, Number of probable cases of SARS in Canada by symptom onset date and exposure type 23 Feb 2003 to 23 May 2003, on above weblink - Mod.MPP]. A cluster of 5 individuals with pneumonia has been linked to St. John's Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto, including 3 patients, one family member, and one health care worker. Their onset dates of symptoms were between 1 and 16 May 2003. 3 are in critical condition, one is stable in hospital, and one has recovered after being treated with antibiotics and has been discharged. One of the 5 patients, a 57-year-old male who is immunocompromised due to a prior lung transplantation, had one respiratory specimen (broncho-alveolar lavage) positive for SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS Co-V) by PCR and genetic sequencing. 2 cases in this cluster are in the same family. One is a patient at St. John's Hospital, who shared the same room with the 57-year-old patient, and had symptom onset on 15 May 2003. The other travelled to Hong Kong, returned on 22 Apr 2003, and developed the symptoms approximately 24 days after her return [?16 May 2003]. Therefore, it is unlikely that she acquired the illness abroad. However, she visited the hospital once on 11 May 2003. Although the clinical presentations of the 5 patients are consistent with SARS, they do not meet the SARS case definition, as to date, a definitive epidemiologic link has not been established. An intensive investigation is in progress to determine whether there is an epidemiologic link and to confirm the presence of SARS Co-V within this cluster. The current status of all probable and suspect cases in Canada as of 23 May 2003 is presented in Tables 1 and 2 [available at the above weblink]. Of the 318 probable and suspect SARS cases identified to date, most (84 percent, 267 of 318) have been discharged from hospital or have recovered at home. An additional 18 of the 318 (6 percent) suspect and probable cases are currently stable or recovering at home. As of 23 May 2003, a total of 140 individuals who meet the probable case definition and 178 who meet the suspect case definition of SARS have been reported, including 24 deaths (see Table 3 below). Since 21 May 2003, no new probable or suspect cases have been identified, and no additional deaths have been reported in Canada. The number of active cases is down as a result of increasing numbers of probable and suspect cases who have recovered from their illness. Table 3: Cumulative Number of SARS Cases Reported in Canada: 23 May 2003 Province/Territory: Persons meeting the criteria for: probable case/ suspected case/ no. deaths** British Columbia: 4/ 44/ 0 Alberta: 0/ 6/ 0 Saskatchewan: 0/ 1/ 0 Ontario: 136/ 121/ 24** New Brunswick: 0/ 2/ 0 Prince Edward Island: 0/ 4/ 0 Total: 140/ 178/ 24 * Persons may be excluded from the probable or suspect case list if another cause is identified to fully explain their illness. Case numbers may change as cases are reclassified based on new information (e.g. disease progression or re-evaluation of the data). ** 23 of 24 deaths were probable cases, while 1 was a suspect case. Another death not included in this total count occurred in a 46-year-old female who died in the Philippines on 14 Apr 2003. It is believed she may have contracted SARS while in Toronto. The list of at-risk settings in the province of Ontario can be obtained at the following address: -- ProMED-mail ****** [7] Date: 24 May 2003 From: ProMED-mail Source: CDC SARS website [edited] Travel Alert Reinstated: Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Released 23 May 2003, 4:00 PM) ----------------------- On 8 May 2003, CDC issued a travel alert for Toronto. On 20 May 2003, CDC lifted this travel alert because more than 30 days (or 3 SARS incubation periods) had elapsed since the date of onset of symptoms for the last case. On 22 May 2003, Health Canada reported a cluster of 5 new suspicious cases, indicating new transmission in Toronto that is currently under investigation. CDC is therefore reissuing a travel alert for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In response to the SARS epidemic, CDC has issued 2 types of notices to travelers: advisories and alerts. A travel advisory recommends that nonessential travel be deferred; a travel alert does not advise against travel but informs travelers of a health concern and provides advice about specific precautions. [Note that WHO, which removed Toronto last week from the WHO list of areas with recent local transmission, has not changed the status of Toronto -- see [1][C] above. - Mod.JW] -- ProMED-mail ****** [8] Date: 24 May 2003 From: ProMED-mail Source: News briefs [edited] [A] Canada from Canada East 24 May 2003 [edited] Officials of the World Health Organization and Health Canada held a teleconference Saturday after the Geneva-based organization [requested] additional information about a disturbing new large cluster of possible SARS cases in the city. "Health Canada is not reporting probable cases of SARS to us. They do tell us that they are investigating 31 people with respiratory disease, 5 in one cluster and 26 in another," said Dick Thompson, director of communications. [Elsewhere the date of 22 Apr 2003 has been given for the date of onset of the newly identified cluster in the York hospital - Mod.MPP] [B] Canada from the Globe and Mail 24 May 2003 Health officials in Toronto had been hesitant to label 5 new cases at St. John's Rehabilitation Hospital as SARS, because they have been unable to establish a link with a known case of the disease. Last night, information emerged that could firm up a connection. Government officials and doctors said that a patient who was transferred to St. John's had been exposed to a person at North York General Hospital who is now believed to have severe acute respiratory syndrome. It is unclear where that initial patient, who has since died, contracted the disease. At a press conference last night, Donald Low, chief microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital, said the female patient transferred from North York probably introduced SARS to St. John's. 3 of these 5 patients are in critical condition; the other 2 are considered stable. Before being transferred, the woman from North York General had shared a ward with a 96-year-old patient recovering from a broken pelvis. That person had exhibited signs of what was believed then to be routine postoperative pneumonia but was probably actually SARS; the patient died on 1 May 2003. The transferred woman went to St. John's on 28 Apr 2003 and within days was displaying SARS-like symptoms. However, without known connections to a proven case of the disease, she was not treated as a potential SARS case. She is believed to have passed the disease to a health-care worker at St. John's. One of these 4 people is believed to have passed the disease to a visitor at St. John's. There is not believed to have been any community spread. However, in investigating the 5 cases, officials discovered a cluster of previously unknown cases of SARS at North York General. [C] Cambodia NOT SARS from Yahoo News 24 May 2003 A Cambodian boy isolated 3 days ago with symptoms of SARS has been given the all-clear, the World Health Organisation said on Saturday [24 May 2003]. The 16-year-old, who was studying in a heavily infected part of southern China, was put into a special SARS isolation unit on Wed [21 May 2003] after a local doctor alerted health authorities to suspect symptoms, such as coughing and fever. After 3 days of monitoring, officials said tests had concluded the boy did not have the virus. "He does not have the definitions [criteria] of a probable case of SARS, and he has been discharged from hospital," WHO country representative Jim Tulloch told Reuters. [D] China - earlier cases? from eTaiwan News 24 May 2003 [edited] After reviewing several case records, scientists yesterday said that the initial outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome may have erupted as early as November 2001. Dr. James Maguire, a team member from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention temporarily based in Beijing, who traveled to Guangdong to investigate the SARS outbreak last month [April 2003], said that the death of a Taiwanese man in Guangdong in January 2002 is the earliest suspected case of SARS now known. Maguire said [this] case was crucial to research on the disease, since he doesn't think the case in November [2002] is the first one. After discussing [this] with [the case's] family, Dr. Maguire said that requiring doctors and hospitals in the area to review their patients' records would be necessary, to investigate whether SARS emerged earlier than expected. [The case], who had worked in the Delta Electronics Group's Dongguan plant for 7 years, died shortly after suffering "flu symptoms" at the age of 45. [Dongguan is east of Foshan where the November 2002 case was reported and southeast of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. - Mod.MPP] [He was admitted to Guangdong's Shijie Hospital] and his cause of death was eventually determined to have been "pneumonia exhaustion." Based on his analysis, Dr. Chang Shang-chwen [of the National Taiwan University Hospital determined] that the virus broke out in the fall or winter of 2001. Chang said he was told by [the] Guangdong doctor [who took care of this case] that there were other cases who displayed similar symptoms and died in a very short period of time, which makes him believe that the outbreak could have erupted between the fall of 2001 and the winter of 2002. Chang said that the SARS outbreak could have temporarily disappeared [during the summer of 2002] and then resurfaced last fall, which finally resulted in the international outbreak. -- ProMED-mail ****** [As of 24 May 2003 there have been a cumulative total of 8141 probable cases of SARS with 696 deaths reported to WHO. In the past 24 hours there have been 89 new probable cases reported, of which 55 were from Taiwan and 34 were from China. The daily SARS update available on the Taiwan SARS update (see [2] above) reflects 10 newly reported probable cases in the past 24 hours. The number given on today's WHO update website is current through 22 May 2003 (see Table in [1][A]. In the Health Canada SARS update (see [6] above), the newly identified cluster of 5 cases of SARS-like illness has not been included in the tables presenting numbers of probable and suspected cases. According to the discussion on the Health Canada website, this cluster does not currently meet the epidemiologic criteria for inclusion in this list, as they have not identified an epidemiologic link to SARS exposure (either through known contact with an identified case of SARS or through travel to a geographic area with known ongoing SARS local transmission). The SARS-associated coronavirus has been isolated from one of the cases. If this is confirmed, then there will be a need to reassess the current case definition criteria for epidemiologic exposure. We await further information. The newswire from Taiwan is curious, as it suggests there may have been a smaller outbreak in Guangdong in late 2001. Given the extensive SARS transmission that occurred in Guangdong during the period November 2002 to April 2003, it would be very difficult to confirm this via serology, as the presence of antibodies against the SARS-associated coronavirus would not confirm when the infection occurred, just that there had been an infection in the past. Information from retrospective hospital chart reviews might shed more light on this curious observation. - Mod.MPP] [see also: SARS - worldwide (118) cases 20030523.1270 SARS - worldwide (116) cases 20030522.1259 SARS - worldwide (115) cases 20030522.1258 SARS - worldwide (114): cases 20030521.1249 SARS - worldwide (93): etiology 20030505.1122 SARS - worldwide (87): case definition and diagnostics 20030502.1103 SARS - worldwide (85): clinical aspects 20030501.1094 SARS - worldwide (69): diagnostic testing 20030425.1015 SARS - worldwide (58): diagnostic testing 20030419.0958 SARS - worldwide (51): etiology 20030416.0925 SARS - worldwide (42): WHO historical overview 20030411.0878 SARS - worldwide (38): etiology 20030410.0869 SARS - Worldwide (34): etiology 20030408.0857 SARS - worldwide (13): etiology 20030327.0758 SARS - worldwide (04): etiology 20030325.0737 Severe acute respiratory syndrome - worldwide (17) 20030322.0713 Severe acute respiratory syndrome - Worldwide: alert (03) 20030316.0660 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - Worldwide 20030315.0637 Acute respiratory syndrome - Canada (Ontario) 20030314.0631 Acute respiratory syndrome - East Asia 20030314.0630 Acute respiratory syndrome - China (HK), VietNam (03) 20030313.0624 Undiagnosed illness - Vietnam (Hanoi): RFI 20030311.0595 Pneumonia - China (Guangdong) (07) 20030221.0452 Pneumonia - China (Guangdong): RFI 20030210.0357] ...............................mpp/pg/jw *##########################################################* ProMED-mail makes every effort to verify the reports that are posted, but the accuracy and completeness of the information, and of any statements or opinions based thereon, are not guaranteed. The reader assumes all risks in using information posted or archived by ProMED-mail. ISID and its associated service providers shall not be held responsible for errors or omissions or held liable for any damages incurred as a result of use or reliance upon posted or archived material. ************************************************************ Visit ProMED-mail's web site at . Send all items for posting to: promed@promedmail.org (NOT to an individual moderator). If you do not give your full name and affiliation, it may not be posted. Send commands to subscribe/unsubscribe, get archives, help, etc. to: majordomo@promedmail.org. For assistance from a human being send mail to: owner-majordomo@promedmail.org. ############################################################ ############################################################
Cheap shot..........I live 50 miles west of Detroit................We have indoor plumbing, I speak broken English and I do not have AIDS........Third World indeed!
I predict that McDonald's buyers will be in a full panic mode by Tuesday May 27th. Further predict the American fast food industry will be decimated by 'Mad Cow Madness' in about 60 days.
As for me -- I will not be buying any meat unless I am absolutely sure of its original source. May take a trip to Montana to fill up my freezer.
Because we don't want to embarass the Lions.
I guess the news wasn't bad enough so, throw this in too?
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