Posted on 03/16/2003 12:09:49 AM PST by ex-Texan
Ninth person dies of mystery disease as WHO warns world heath threat spread by air travel
By MARGIE MASON
HANOI, Vietnam (AP): A ninth person has died of a mystery form of pneumonia that the World Health Organization says cannot be stopped by standard drugs and is being spread across the globe by international air travelers.
In a rare emergency warning, Geneva-based WHO described the fast-acting, highly contagious disease as "a worldwide health threat.''
It first struck China's southern Guangdong province in January when five people died. In recent days about 150 infections had been reported in Asia, Europe and North America. Patients deteriorate quickly after initially coming down with simple flu-like symptoms, doctors say.
U.S. and French health officials and diplomats in Hanoi said Sunday the latest fatality was a young Vietnamese nurse who died Saturday. She contracted the disease after treating an American businessman who died of it last week.
Most deaths have been in Asia -- but on Friday authorities said two people had died in Canada. On Saturday a doctor traveling on a New York-Singapore flight was quarantined during a stopover in Germany after he showed symptoms.
"Until we can get a grip on it, I don't see how it will slow down,'' said WHO spokesman Dick Thompson. "People are not responding to antibiotics or antivirals. It's a highly contagious disease and it's moving around by jet. It's bad.''
Geneva-based WHO said that in the past week it has received more than 150 reports worldwide of the atypical pneumonia, which it called "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).''
"The world needs to work together to find its cause, cure the sick, and stop its spread,'' Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the WHO's director general, said in a statement.
A WHO advisory said there was no reason to restrict travel. But it urged people to seek medical attention if they have visited infected areas and show symptoms of the illness, which include coughing, high fever and shortness of breath.
SARS also may be associated with headache, muscle stiffness, loss of appetite, confusion, rash and diarrhea.
Doctors do not know what causes the illness -- even whether it is a bacteria or virus or if there is only a single strain.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said "health officials around the world are taking this situation very seriously.''
U.S. authorities said travelers may wish to postpone nonessential trips to countries at risk and that health officials are preparing to issue an alert for passengers returning from countries where SARS has been reported.
In the U.S. city of Atlanta, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Julie Gerberding, said the illness is believed to spread "person to person'' and have an incubation period of two to seven days.
When asked whether the illness could be caused by bioterrorism, Gerberding said, "We have an open mind and will be keeping an open mind as we go forward.''
The CDC emergency operations center has been activated and its staff are working around the clock.
U.S. epidemiologists arrived in Vietnam on Saturday to investigate the outbreak. A separate team of French doctors were expected to bring medicine and respirators.
Samples were rushed from Hanoi to Atlanta and will be tested immediately to try to determine the cause, said Dave Daigle, a CDC spokesman.
The Hanoi outbreak started after the American businessman traveling from Shanghai via Hong Kong apparently infected up to 31 hospital workers, three of whom were listed in critical condition Sunday, including a French doctor. The American was evacuated and died in Hong Kong.
At least 11 more people have been admitted to another hospital in the city after coming down with the same flu-like symptoms.
In Frankfurt, Germany, a doctor who treated a patient with the illness in Singapore had to be taken off a New York-Singapore flight Saturday during a stopover and was hospitalized. Two other people accompanying the doctor were also taken off the flight.
Another 155 passengers were temporarily held in quarantine or sent home and told to remain there, German authorities said.
Canadian health officials reported that a mother and son died earlier this month in Toronto. The pair had recently returned from a trip to Hong Kong. Four other family members and a person who had been in close contact with the family are in hospitals.
Singapore reported 16 infections and Taipei three. A man from the Philippines who visited Vietnam earlier this month also has been diagnosed with atypical pneumonia.
In Hong Kong, officials on Saturday said eight more hospital workers had come down with pneumonia, bringing the total number there to 37. Two patients were listed in serious condition.
Cases also have been reported in Indonesia and Thailand, according to the WHO -- though hospitals in those countries said they knew of no cases.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
CDC Issues Health Alert About Atypical Pneumonia
Atlanta: In response to reports of increasing numbers of cases of an atypical pneumonia that the World Health Organization (WHO) has called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today announced several steps to alert US health authorities at local and state levels.
CDC activated its emergency operations center on Friday, March 14, upon learning of several cases reported in Canada among travelers recently returned from Southeast Asia and their family members. The federal public health agency:
CDC has been working with the World Health Organization (WHO) since late February to investigate and confirm outbreaks of this severe form of pneumonia in Viet Nam, Hong Kong, and parts of China. No cases have been identified to date in the United States.
"The emergence of two clusters of this illness on the North American continent indicates the potential for travelers who have been in the affected areas of Southeast Asia to have been exposed to this serious syndrome," said Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, CDC Director. "The World Health Organization has been leading a global effort, in which CDC is participating, to understand the cause of this illness and how to prevent its spread. We do know that it may progress rapidly and can be fatal. Therefore, we are instituting measures aimed at identifying potential cases among travelers returning to the United States and protecting the people with whom they may come into contact."
The WHO issued a global alert about the outbreak on March 12, cautioning that the severe respiratory illness may spread to hospital staff. No link has been made between this illness and any known influenza, including the "bird flu" (A[H5N1]) outbreak reported in Hong Kong on February 19.
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CDC Interim Information and Recommendations for Health Care Providers (March 15, 2003)
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A Brief History
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