Canada rocked by health threats

AP, with Bloomberg News contributing ^ | May 25, 2003 | TOM COHEN

[sarcasm]

TORONTO--Hospital workers here once again strapped on masks and gowns Saturday to confront a new SARS threat that an official warned could involve 33 people or more, weeks after Canada proclaimed itself free of the deadly virus.

Up to 1,000 people are being quarantined after a case spread undetected through a hospital.

The reports of a possible new outbreak in Toronto came on a day of rare good news out of Asia, where severe acute respiratory syndrome originated.

For the first time since late March, no new cases were reported in Hong Kong on Saturday. Taiwan had no new deaths for a second day in a row, and Chinese officials said they saw a ''notable downward trend.''

But Canada received the latest bad news in a dismal week, after the discovery of mad cow disease in the cattle heartland of Alberta prompted the United States and other countries to ban imports of Canadian beef products. Health officials also recently warned that Canada can expect an increase of West Nile virus in the summer mosquito season.

The possible new SARS cases in Toronto prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a new travel alert for Toronto, Canada's largest city.

The World Health Organization said more confirmation of an outbreak was needed before considering such a travel warning.

SARS has spread to more than 8,000 people around the globe and killed nearly 700, most of them in Asia. Canada saw the largest outbreak outside of Asia, with about 150 cases and 24 deaths.

WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said from Geneva that one new case in Toronto tested positive for SARS, and 31 other people with respiratory illness were being tested.

Health officials said Friday an apparently undiagnosed SARS case at North York General Hospital may have infected health care workers, other patients and their family members on one ward in late April.

A patient transferred from the ward to St. John's Rehabilitation Hospital was considered the likely source of four more cases under investigation, they said.

Hanif Kassam, a medical officer of health in York Region north of the city, said Saturday that at least 33 people who had direct contact with the possible new SARS cases have been traced so far.

''The number [of exposed people] is likely to increase over the next 24 to 48 hours,'' said Kassam, adding that the source of the possible outbreak remained unclear.

Up to 1,000 other people possibly exposed from visiting the two hospitals in recent weeks were told to stay home for 10 days.

Toronto health officials ordered restricted access and use of protective masks and gowns for all area hospital emergency rooms, repeating steps taken against SARS earlier this year.

Dr. Donald Low, a microbiologist and major figure in Toronto's anti-SARS efforts, said the new cluster could have included two elderly patients who died recently.

If confirmed, they would increase the SARS deaths in the Toronto area to 26.

[raybbr]

It just hit after reading this article. Canada has socialized medicine and are our closest neighboor. We have had one or two cases and SARS is contained in our country. It might be a stretch but what are we doing differently?