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Posted on 06/11/2003 2:07:45 PM PDT by FairOpinion
TORONTO (CP) - The cluster of respiratory illness among dialysis patients that was feared to be Ontario's latest SARS outbreak may not in fact be the dreaded disease, a member of the SARS containment team said Wednesday.
Dr. Allison McGeer said investigations into the suspected cluster are leading experts to the conclusion that something else might be responsible for much, if not all, of the illness.
"There is some concerning respiratory illness . . . in the dialysis patients and some inpatient areas at Lakeridge and in some nursing homes. It appears at the moment that at least the majority of it is not SARS," she said in an interview.
"It's conceivable that none of it's SARS."
If that assessment proves to be true, it will come as a welcome relief to both Ontario officials and to the World Health Organization, which again expressed grave concern Wednesday about the apparent inability to bring the Toronto area's battle with SARS under control.
"I think that we're really worried about what's going on in Toronto," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said from Geneva.
He said the organization was concerned about the lack of answers about the cause of the city's second bout of SARS, which began at North York General Hospital, the source of the possible new cluster among dialysis patients at the Lakeridge facility in Whitby and the case of a man from North Carolina who became infected with SARS while visiting a geriatric facility in Toronto in mid-May.
"We're anxious to understand what's gone on," Thompson said.
"These things raise a lot of questions. And it makes us uncomfortable not to have answers."
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It's in dialysis patients.
And "some" inpatient areas at Lakeridge.
And "some" nursing homes.
But the authorities say don't worry. It appears the "majority" of it is not SARS. Perhaps even NONE of it is SARS.
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Ahem...
Have they EVER had similar clusters of unexplained respiratory illness this time of year? If so, what were the details, when did it happen, and where?
And please provide details as to why it "appears" this is not SARS.
Just curious, of course. It's not that I think the authorities in Toronto would lie or anything.
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