BREAKING BIG: POSSIBLE PATHOGEN DETECTED IN SARS CASE

PROMED ^ | 03-18-03

[TaxRelief]

...the discovery of the coffins and bodies of the seven young miners, who died in 1918 of the Spanish Flu. The bodies were found only inches under the topsoil, and were notfrozen. They were partially decomposed...

If corpses can emerge from the permafrost, it stands to reason that someone handling them can become infected.

[Mother Abigail]

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry?s Disease Control Department yesterday received reports on two locals having symptoms similar to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). 

The symptoms as stipulated by the World Health Organisation are flu-like illness with high fever followed by muscle ache, headache, sore throat.  

One of the patients had visited Hanoi and the other Singapore, two of the places where similar cases had been detected. 

[CathyRyan]

Where did you find that? :)

[Mother Abigail]

FIRST US CASE????

ALBUQUERQUE

New Mexico, U.S.A.

March 18, 2003

New Mexico's deputy state epidemiologist says it's "likely" that a patient at Albuquerque's Presbyterian Hospital has Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
The syndrome, called SARS, is a deadly mystery illness suspected to be a severe form of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia. It has spread to more than 300 patients in Asia, Europe and Canada.

Ron Voorhees, the deputy state epidemiologist, said the Presbyterian patient traveled to Hong Kong before coming down with symptoms.

"My feeling is this is fairly likely (to be a case of SARS) because the patient was in one of those areas," Voorhees said.

"We've sent samples to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and we're trying to bring in people to look into it as quickly as we can."

No test to detect infection exists for SARS because the syndrome is very new. The only way to confirm it at this point is to rule out other possible diseases, Voorhees said.

The patient is in "fair" condition and in respiratory isolation. All other information about the patient, including his identify, is confidential, said Ed Benge, vice president of medical staff affairs at Presbyterian.
Health officials are conferring with the CDC to decide whether to release the patient's flight

[CathyRyan]

New ProMED-Mail UPDATE


http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/f?p=2400:1001:151171208753220363::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,21009

[Mother Abigail]

HERE

[Lancey Howard]

Uh, so if you catch this, do you die?

[CathyRyan]

Thank you :)

[Mother Abigail]

Killer virus identified

---

A team from the Prince of Wales Hospital and Chinese University of Hong Kong have identified the virus that has caused the recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome worldwide, confirming that the current anti-viral treatment applied to patients has been the right choice. Identifying the virus as a member of the Paramyxoviridae family, Professor John Tam of the department of microbiology of the Chinese University said it was detected by electron microscopy. The finding, announced late last night, was further confirmed by a molecular technique that revealed the nucleic acid sequence of the virus.

Asked if the virus was curable, Tam reiterated that the finding last night had indicated that the current treatment applied to patients suffering from the syndrome, more commonly known as atypical pneumonia, had been the right choice. But he added that they still needed to monitor individual patients' reactions before they could conclude that the virus was curable.

Lo Wing-lok, Medical Association president and legislator, said the Paramyxoviridae family incorporated different viruses that could affect humans and, as such, further studies were needed to establish whether it was a new virus. Earlier it was revealed that at least 6 patients were responsible for spreading the pneumonia in Hong Kong. Health chief Yeoh Eng-kiong also said that a mainland professor who died in [Hong Kong] SAR on 4 Mar 2003 was a victim of the atypical pneumonia.

The new information from officials indicated the disease had been more widespread in the SAR than originally believed. Yeoh said the pneumonia and suspected cases had now been isolated into 6 "clusters". Yeoh again stressed the government was not hiding anything. He insisted there was no sign of an outbreak at the community level.

[This is the second identification of a paramyovirus-like organism from a patient with SARS (see ProMED-mail posting Severe acute respiratory syndrome - worldwide (06) 20030318.0677). The first identification was made by investigators in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg from specimens taken from a physician from Singapore who had treated some of the earlier cases seen in Singapore and was admitted to hospital in Frankfurt, Germany en route back to Singapore over the weekend. As mentioned in our earlier posting, it is important to confirm these findings and to identify a similar agent from other cases of SARS before it can be concluded that this agent is the cause of SARS.

That being said, this second identification of a paramxovirus-like organism from patients with SARS offers hope that the etiology of this outbreak may be identified soon. - Mod.MPP]

Cathy - thank you for all your hard work.

[CathyRyan]

You are the one to be thanked. You are doing a wonderful job and have put in a lot of time on this topic. Thank You!

[aristeides]

I assume this is a different disease, but maybe it's worth mentioning here: Mysterious flu-like virus striking Northwest .

[Mother Abigail]

Because of the importance of this news, I have started a new thread

[Judith Anne]

I'll go look for it. Thank you for everything you do.

[Mother Abigail]

I think that I have been up close and personal with that bug this winter.

[JasonC]

"I would like to know the following:"

I'll try to answer your questions, based on what I've seen about this thing. I'm not a doctor or anything, but I've followed the coverage.

"1. How is this thing spread?"

It appear it is being spread much like flu, by fluid or vapor from an infected person coughing or sneezing, breathed in by somebody else.

2. Is it a virus, bacteria, or other?

It appear to be a virus. There are no reports of antibiotics helping against it, which fits a virus and not a bacteria.

"3. Has anyone gotten better? (I know many are still in hospital)"

Undoubtedly, since the incubation period is said to be only 3 to 10 days, and the outbreak first began last November - although Chinese authorities didn't say anything about it until recently. The point being, those infected early have certainly gone through the whole cycle of the illness by now.

"4. Is this a mutation or completely new?" Since nobody has isolated the actual virus responsible, nobody can say for certain. But the question doesn't make all that much sense. Almost all new bugs - flu like viruses in particular - are mutations of some existing one. Either that, or they are existing bugs that have jumped from animal infections to human infections, with or without accompanying mutation.

"5. Could this be bioterrorism (likely, not likely, etc)"

It is not likely. It is possible, simply because we are at war, in terror alert "orange", and some have tried to use bio based weapons on us already, others have declared intentions along those lines, etc. So it isn't crazy to consider that possibility. And the Chinese have not been exactly forthcoming about what is going on, which fuels rumors. By far the most likely thing, though, is that this is a new version of an "Asian flu", something seen from time to time.

The main arguments against thinking it any sort of bio weapon are (1) it spread first in China, hardly a likely target rather than "shooter" and (2) the mortality isn't very high. If it is in any way related to bio weapons, it would seem to be a mistake or "escapee", and something of a "fizzle" as to impact. Both of which fit a natural event rather better than a bio weapon incident. Since nobody has yet isolated the actual critter, though, it is all speculation at this point.

I hope this helps.

[valkyrieanne]

Apparently this is nothing new in the Singapore / Malaysia area. This article is from May 2000 and mentions a paramyxovirus infection that infected 265 and killed 105 between 1998 and 1999. Apparently it was spread through pigs.

[Mother Abigail]

Thank you

New Thread

[valkyrieanne]

good point from your link:

The virus is ubiquitous; infections occur as epidemics as well as sporadically. Parainfluenza viruses are sensitive to detergents and heat but can remain viable on surfaces for up to 10 hours.

for nervous readers: follow your mama's advice and wash your hands with hot water & soap...

[bonesmccoy]

Great information!

I especially appreciated the information on viral serologies. Based in part on the reports associated with these threads, we have initiated more advanced diagnostics associated with febrile illnesses in infants and children.

RSV appears to be running through our region still.

paramyxovirus is an interesting issue.

If you have a pointer to CDC or NIH web pages on the family of viruses, please post.

I have been reviewing the ProMed stuff after you posted the links.

Thanks.

You've done more of our practice than local public health has.

[Mother Abigail]

You are very kind to say so

Virology