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THURSDAY, March 20

(HealthScoutNews) -- One person in Los Angeles and one in the Washington, D.C., area are among 11 people in 10 states who are being scrutinized for the country's first cases of a deadly global respiratory illness.

In Los Angeles, an unidentified man got sick March 11 shortly after returning from a visit to Vietnam, Hong Kong and China, the Los Angeles Times reports. Also sickened was his child, who was hospitalized earlier this week but has now largely recovered, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

In Virginia, state health officials said there was one case in the Hampton Roads area, but withheld other details, the Washington Post reports.

Eight other states also have suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites). They are: Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin, each with one case, and Hawaii, which has two.
The illness has killed 15 people and sickened hundreds in eight other countries.

"The 11 people have a travel history, fever and respiratory symptoms, which are part of the case definition," Dr. Julie Gerberding, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told a news conference Wednesday.

Vietnam Airlines flight attendant, passenger suspected of being infected by mystery illness

Thu Mar 20, 7:35 AM ET

By MARGIE MASON, Associated Press Writer

HANOI, Vietnam - An attendant and a passenger on Vietnam Airlines flights to Hanoi were admitted to a hospital with high fevers, amid concern they may have contracted the mystery illness health officials believe has been spread by air travelers, officials said Thursday.

Vu Minh Khue of the state Northern Airports Authority said a female flight attendant on a flight from Hong Kong and a female passenger on a flight from Taipei were admitted to Hanoi's Bach Mai Hospital on Wednesday afternoon.

One more flight crew...