SARS Virus May Be Back In Canada

New Scientist ^ | 08-20-03

[Brian S]

SARS virus may be back in Canada

17:32 20 August 03 Debora MacKenzie

An outbreak of pneumonia, which tests so far indicate may be caused by the SARS virus, appears to be spreading in British Columbia, Canada. The virus had already infected over 150 people and killed six at a nursing home near Vancouver, and now appears to have infected a second nursing home nearby.

Researchers have announced that several genetic sequences from the virus are identical to the virus that causes SARS. But, confusingly, the symptoms shown in the new outbreak have been much milder.

The apparent end to the global SARS outbreak in July raised hopes that transmission in humans was broken, and that the virus might therefore die out. However, any persistence of the SARS virus could lead to a re-emergence of the severe pneumonia characteristic of the infection.

The global SARS epidemic began in China in the autumn of 2002 and killed over 800 people worldwide, including 44 in Canada.

"Typical" pneumonia

The new outbreak struck the Kinsmen Place Lodge in Surrey, British Columbia, in early July. Most of those infected had runny noses and sore throats - few had the fever typical of SARS.

Ten of the elderly residents developed pneumonia. But Roland Guasperini, chief medical officer for the local Fraser Health Authority, told journalists on Tuesday that those cases were "typical" pneumonia, without the generalised lung damage and acute respiratory distress syndrome that killed most victims of SARS.

Nonetheless, when the patients initially tested negative for influenza, samples were sent to Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg to test for SARS as a precaution. Half came back positive, and the test is not always positive even in confirmed SARS cases.

Now nine residents at another, unidentified nursing home in the region are reported to have the same symptoms. The Fraser Health Authority administers both nursing homes, as well as the Surrey Memorial Hospital that treated two "probable" SARS cases earlier in 2003. The nursing homes and hospital are reported to share staff.

Identical sequences

Efforts to culture the mystery virus have so far been unsuccessful. But Frank Plummer, director of the Winnipeg lab, told reporters that some 800 base pairs in four of its gene regions had sequences identical to the SARS virus in seven out of eight samples. In the eighth, the sequence differed by only one base pair. The SARS virus has nearly 30,000 base pairs in total.

David Patrick, of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, told the same press conference that the new outbreak could be caused by a weakened, mutated form of the SARS virus, with a deletion in a gene that has not yet been sequenced.

But Plummer believes outbreak could be explained by the SARS virus causing milder disease in some instances: "There is a very broad spectrum of illness caused by this virus, and what we saw in the [earlier] epidemic in terms of very severe cases is only the tip of the iceberg."

Plummer previously got positive tests for SARS in people in Ontario who did not develop the serious symptoms used to define the illness, as did scientists in the UK.

17:32 20 August 03

[Brian S]

FYI...

[aristeides]

That there should be lots of mild cases of SARS during the summer is consistent with what Henry Niman was predicting.

[blam]

"Researchers have announced that several genetic sequences from the virus are identical to the virus that causes SARS. But, confusingly, the symptoms shown in the new outbreak have been much milder."

I bet that makes the six people who died feel better.

[gcruse]

I bet that makes the six people who died feel better.

It's a milder death.

[flutters]

Thanks for posting. This article has less double talk than some of the others I've read recently.

[Brian S]

Sure enough. I'm putting this source on my daily check list for updates.

[Dat]

Gee, guess wich city I live in. Guess the exact city. It
s in the article.

[Malsua]

Having spent some time in Hong Kong, Mainland Chain(Guangdong Province) and seeing how closely these people live, SARS is red Herring for the bulk of everyone.

Not trivializing it...but have you seen how people pack themselves together in this part of China? I have, and if SARS was so common, this region would have lost hundreds of thousand if not millions.

-Mal

[_Jim]

Have all the 'regulars' checked in yet - oh, I see they've been pinged ...

[Betty Jo]

Well I'm glad Henry is still around.I guess I'll have to find one lousy darn hit that is actually about where he really does work.

All of the hits just say where he is supposedly.

I like what he says, its just that I cant figure out what he really does for whom.

I hope SARS is dead and gone.But in the meantime,I am watching and waiting.

[Centurion2000]

That there should be lots of mild cases of SARS during the summer is consistent with what Henry Niman was predicting.

Is he also predicting a lot more serious cases as winter sets in ?

[aristeides]

Is he also predicting a lot more serious cases as winter sets in ?

He was predicting that in the spring. I haven't looked at his postings lately.

[TBall]

Why do you get so upset that people pay attention to sars news? Some people find it interesting.

[aristeides]

SARS fears ease at nursing home.

[Domestic Church]

"First INDICT the ham sandwhich ... the next step is to CONVICT it"

A la Tina Turner...what's ham got to do with it?!...it's a second hand lunchmeat.

[fatima]

Bump.

[martin_fierro]

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[martin_fierro]

DUH. My bad.

[Beck_isright]

bttt