SARS Threads

[flutters]

The SARS Thread is updated.

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[blam]

Excellent collection.

The History Of SARS.

Thanks.

[potlatch]

Thanks for the ping, flutters.

[txhurl]

Many thanks for this extraordinary collection.

[flutters]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/03/25/sars-050325.html


SARS may spread through air, studies find
Last Updated Fri, 25 Mar 2005 15:18:43 EST
CBC News
TORONTO - Two new studies have found evidence that the virus causing severe acute respiratory syndrome may spread through the air, not just through direct human contact, as was previously believed.


INDEPTH: SARS


New research suggests the SARS virus can be spread through the air. (CP file photo)
The results of the SARS studies, which were conducted in Toronto and Hong Kong, were published in the May issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

The findings indicate the virus may be far more contagious than first thought.

They may also explain how passengers on airplanes in Asia and inhabitants of neighbouring apartment buildings in Hong Kong contracted SARS even though they had no direct contact with infected people.

During the 2003 outbreak in Toronto, which killed 44 people, health-care workers became infected with the virus despite observing strict infection control precautions.

Investigators wondered whether contamination of hospital air or surfaces could explain why.

Samples collected from Toronto hospitals

Patient information and environmental samples were collected from the SARS units of four Toronto hospitals.

SARS coronavirus was detected in the air in one of the four rooms tested. The researchers also detected the virus in four of 85 surface samples taken from frequently touched surfaces.

In the Hong Kong study, 41 per cent of the patients admitted to the ward in which the first SARS patient was staying became infected.

Proximity to the bed of the SARS patient seemed to be a factor.

Researchers found two-thirds of the patients in the same bay became infected, while half the patients in an adjacent bay got the virus. However, only 18 per cent of patients in distant bays developed SARS.

No 'direct proof,' researchers say

The research team, led by Dr. Ignatius T.S. Yu, said the link between proximity to the initial SARS case and increased risk of infection suggests the virus is airborne.

While they don't have "direct proof" of airborne transmission, Dr. Yu said "no other known routes of infectious diseases transmission could adequately explain the spread of the disease in the outbreak, and hence we feel that the evidence is quite strong."

An editorial accompanying the Toronto study called it an "important work" that shows "beyond doubt" that people can get SARS from breathing the same air as an infected patient.