WHO mum on rumoured SARS cases (New Canadian Export--my title)

CNEWS ^ | June 4, 2003 | Helen Branswell

[Judith Anne]

TORONTO (CP) -- The World Health Organization said Wednesday it won't share details of rumoured exported SARS cases from Toronto unless it can determine there is some substance to the claims.

WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the organization wants to determine whether there is any "there there" before it bothers Canadian officials with the alleged exported cases.

"I think first what we need to do is to make sure that these are real cases," Thompson, director of communications for the communicable diseases branch, said from Geneva.

"I mean, if there's any there there, I'm sure that Health Canada will know about it. If there are any real cases there, then the next steps will be made. But right now these are just rumours."

The decision not to talk about rumoured exported cases until there is evidence of SARS is an attempt by the WHO to ensure the situation that occurred during Toronto's first outbreak -- where virtually everyone who visited the city and went home with the sniffles was declared a probable SARS case -- doesn't happen again.

"Exactly. Exactly," Thompson said.

On a related issue, WHO officials discussed again Wednesday whether Toronto's latest SARS outbreak required the organization to issue a second travel advisory for the city.

Again, the group decided against it. "No change," Thompson said.

Countries which report possible SARS cases caught in Toronto are being asked to do PCR -- polymerase chain reaction -- tests for the SARS coronavirus on the ill individual before the WHO goes public with the information, he said.

The new rumours of possible exported cases came to light Tuesday, when Thompson's colleague, Maria Cheng, revealed the WHO is again hearing claims that citizens from other countries have contracted SARS while visiting Toronto.

Cheng and Thompson refused to disclose any details about the rumoured cases, other to say that there were only "a couple" at that point.

"The aim is to clarify whether these are truly cases . . . before moving on. So it makes no sense to talk about rumours," Thompson said.

One of the criteria the WHO uses when deciding whether to issue a travel advisory for a city or an area is whether the jurisdiction is exporting cases of SARS.

Reports of exported cases seemed to tip the balance April 23 when the WHO issued an advisory warning people to avoid all unnecessary travel to Toronto. That travel advisory, which was lifted less than a week later, has cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tourism and convention business.

During Toronto's first SARS outbreak, officials here expressed deep frustration at the time and effort their already stretched team of public health investigators had to expend tracking the movements of the alleged exported cases.

In all but two cases, investigations showed the individuals could not have contracted SARS because they were never in contact with someone suffering from the disease.

Ontario's commissioner of public security, who is one of the leaders of the SARS containment team, said it put officials here in the awkward position of trying to disprove "something that didn't happen."

"What it does, in fact, when we're busy doing other things is it consumes enormous amounts of resources, chasing down nothing," Dr. James Young said Tuesday.

Ontario and Health Canada officials were caught off guard by the new allegations of exported cases. Health Canada's point man on SARS, Dr. Paul Gully, complained the WHO hadn't raised the issue during a teleconference earlier in the day.

[riri]

Right. I think that sort of pneumonia is bacterial or fungal. Treatable with antibiotics. My brother in law, who lost a spleen, would get walking pneumonia from the cold every winter. Until he left the northeast.

It can be brought on by a number of different irritants--dust, chemicals, cold air, etc.

Viral pneumonia, I believe, is much more serious.