VIETNAM NEW SARS HOT ZONE, U.S. Warns Citizens in Vietnam To leave

Reuters ^ | 03-23-03

[Mother Abigail]

HONG KONG (Reuters): Hong Kong researchers said on Saturday they had isolated the virus, found it was new, and designed the first diagnostic test, meaning patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) can be identified, and therefore treated, much faster.

On Sunday WHO praised the
Hong Kong's team's findings but sounded a note of caution. "The race to identify the SARS causative agent is by no means over. Although the virus has now been isolated, its identity remains elusive," the global body said.

The majority of cases are medical workers who have been in close contact with patients or victims' family members. In Hong Kong health officials said 2 people who worked in the same office as a patient were infected at work. [Other newswire reports have mentioned 3 cases among office workers. We await official news from the Department of Health on these reports. - Mod.MPP]

Authorities in the territory ordered all schools to be disinfected and vowed on Sunday to shut for a week any school with a child or staff member ill with the disease. Education secretary Arthur Li told a news conference he was ordering about 180 children with infected family members to stop attending classes for a week from Monday. Officials say 5 schools have already been ordered shut.

Scientists in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, and Canada identified viruses taken from patients as paramyxoviruses, a large family of microbes that includes germs that cause measles, mumps, and respiratory infections. WHO said other research groups in the network of collaborating labs were producing hints the virus might belong to another family but also expressed hope of bringing the epidemic under control.

The University of Hong Kong researchers said on Saturday they had designed the world's first SARS diagnostic test, which detects a patient's antibodies, which could confirm the diagnosis between 5 and 14 days after infection. Hong Kong doctors have been treating patients with ribavirin -- an anti-virus drug -- and corticosteroids. They say the regimen works for most patients if treated early.

Hong Kong Hospital Authority director Ko Wing-man said on Sunday one more patient had died in Hong Kong, bringing the death toll in the city to 8. The number of infections in Hong Kong rose to 247 on Sunday, including 242 suffering full-blown pneumonia.

[Mother Abigail]

SARS cases on the rise in Canada
Canadian Press

Toronto — Two more people in Ontario are suspected of having the deadly and mysterious severe acute respiratory syndrome, health officials said Sunday.

One of the two new cases is categorized as probable and the other as suspected, Colin D'Cunha, Ontario's Commissioner of Public Health, told reporters Sunday.
Also, the emergency ward of the Scarborough Hospital's Grace division in east-end Toronto has been closed to allow medical staff to focus on the disease.

The two new cases bring Ontario's total to 10 probable and four suspected, said Allison McGeer, head of infection control for Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Three of the probable cases have died thus far.

The illness may be spreading even further as public health staff are monitoring another cluster of about 12 people who appear to be showing symptoms of SARS.

Sunday's news comes a day after officials announced that a third victim, who had been classified as a probable case, had died Friday.
It's believed the man in his 70s contracted SARS after being placed in an observation room with Chi Kwai Tse, a 44-year-old man who later died. Mr. Tse was the son of Sui-chu Kwan, the first Toronto person to die of the illness.

[Mother Abigail]

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