Police set to guard Toronto hospitals Health officials take no chances...

TORONTO -- The Ontario government will use police if necessary to restrict access to Toronto hospitals as part of new measures announced yesterday to try to contain an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

"We are moving in the right direction. These are the right measures," said Dr. James Young, Ontario Commissioner of Public Security, at a briefing yesterday afternoon.

All hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area and Simcoe County (north of Toronto) have been ordered to "assume the presence of SARS," and take necessary precautions, including the use of gloves and masks by staff.

"Security and police will be used to question visitors" to Toronto area hospitals, said Dr. Young. Only seriously ill patients or children will be allowed to have visitors. Anyone permitted to visit will be required to wear a gown, gloves, a mask and eye protection. As well, non-urgent transfers between hospitals in the Toronto area have been suspended. Scarborough Grace hospital and York Central hospital in Richmond Hill are both under an isolation order.

Thousands of people, including hospital staff or those who visited the two facilities after March 16, have been asked to quarantine themselves at home for up to 10 days. Three people in Ontario have died as a result of contracting the illness. An elderly woman, who was a patient at Scarborough Grace died earlier this month. Her son died a few days later from the disease, as did an elderly man who was a patient in the same hospital room.

York Central was placed under the isolation order on Friday, after a case of the disease was discovered in a patient who had been transferred from Scarborough Grace on March 16.

"There were already one thousand people in quarantine (in York Region) before this case," said Dr. Hanif Kassam, the acting Medical Officer of Health in York Region.

Dr. Kassam suggested that many more people could be asked to voluntarily quarantine themselves, because there are as many as 13 suspected or probable cases of the bug in the region.

Provincial health officials are holding daily briefings to inform the media and the public about the germ outbreak. However, they continued to send out contradictory messages about the potential danger to the general public and the scope of the outbreak to date.

But Dr. Colin D'Cunha, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, said yesterday that there were 73 "suspected or probable" cases of the disease in Ontario.

An Ontario government news release issued yesterday said there were approximately 100 cases in the province. Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement did not attend the briefing on yesterday.

But Dr. D'Cunha told the media to use "whichever number they wanted." He then added that 73 is the number of cases where provincial health officials have "detailed analysis" on the patients.

Many times during the briefing, Dr. D'Cunha noted that "it is the weekend" and it was more difficult to compile up-to-date information. He also stressed that "health care workers and those in close direct contact, particularly in households," are the two main risk groups. "SARS has not gone out to the sporadic community that we are aware of," said Dr. D'Cunha.

Of the dozens of people suspected of having contracted the illness, "I wouldn't say there is anyone critical right now," said Dr. Don Low, chief microbiologist at Mount Sinai hospital in Toronto.

Dr. Low said that could be because many of the people suspect of contracting the disease are relatively young health care workers.

Dr. Young delivered a more widespread caution to the general public. "People should think carefully about going to a hospital," he said.

The public security commissioner also urged anyone with a headache and fever, the symptoms of the common flu, to "think carefully about going out in public."

Dr. D'Cunha added that "public health officials around the world are talking to each other," to share any new information about the deadly bug.

Ottawa had one suspected case of the disease, but that is now believed to have been a false alarm. The patient, a 56-year-old man at Queensway-Carleton Hospital, is now recovering and the city's medical officer of health, Dr. Robert Cushman, said Friday it looks as if the man was not infected with the virus.

Yesterday paramedics took precautions with another patient they were taking to hospital -- a woman in her 50s who complained of flu-like systems and a fever. Later last night a city official said that the woman's illness was definitely not related to the virus.

"We're going to err on the side of caution. We will first assume yes, and later prove no," he said.

The World Health Organization has included Toronto as one of the locations that should have additional health screening for people flying out of the country from Pearson International Airport.

Health Canada has urged all people flying to China, Hong Kong, Vietnam or Singapore to defer travel to these locations until further notice. In response to the WHO request, it has asked travellers to do a self assessment of the likelihood they have been exposed to the disease before boarding their planes at Pearson airport.

Also, passengers arriving from Hong Kong are provided with an information pamphlet about the illness, from Health Canada officials.

There have been 1,550 reported cases and 54 deaths linked to the disease worldwide since last November according to the WHO. More than 80 per cent of the reported cases originated in China or Hong Kong.

The WHO also announced yesterday that Dr. Carlo Urbani, who worked as a public health officer in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, had died of of the disease . Dr. Urbani was the first WHO officer to identify the outbreak of the illness, in a U.S. businessman who was hospitalized in Hanoi.

Deadly flu suspected in Michigan - 2/26/2003
By Associated Press
http://www.detnews.com/2003/health/0303/26/e02-119527.htm

LANSING -- There are two possible cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in Kent County, the state health department said Tuesday.

The flu-like illness, which has symptoms including high fever and respiratory difficulties such as coughing or shortness of breath, has spread rapidly through hospitals in Asia that don't have surgical masks and goggles to prevent spreading the disease.

SARS first gained attention in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam, where it has spread among health workers. Health authorities say it appears to spread from close contact, primarily through nasal fluids by coughing or sneezing. At least 17 people have died from SARS worldwide since Feb. 1.

In the United States 39 people in 18 states likely have been made ill by SARS. Most of those suspected cases -- 32 people -- are believed to have acquired it from recent travel to Asia, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said.

The state Department of Community Health said the Kent County adults possibly infected with SARS are not in a hospital and they are in good condition. The department isn't releasing their personal information because of patient confidentiality rules.

State health officials have collected specimens from the adults and sent them to the CDC for analysis.

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