37 In United States May Have SARS

Dr. Koop ^ | 03-24-03

[Mother Abigail]

The United States now has 37 suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The latest list from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 17 states with suspected cases, including New York with five, California with eight, and Texas and Hawaii with three each.

There were no immediate details of the new U.S. totals, which have increased by 15 since Friday. But the global toll of suspected and confirmed cases of the deadly respiratory illness also continued to rise.

In Hong Kong, the top hospital health official was hospitalized Sunday night with pneumonia symptoms, as health officials there announced two more deaths and another 38 people infected, the Associated Press reports.

Hong Kong Hospital Authority chief executive, Dr. William Ho, was reported in stable condition Monday, according to the AP, but it is not yet clear whether he has SARS. Officials say Ho had been going through hospitals lately to offer moral support to medical workers and patients.

In Singapore, meanwhile, the government reported 14 new cases Monday and ordered 740 people who may have been exposed to SARS to stay home for 10 days in a bid to contain the illness, the Washington Post reports.

Health Minister Lim Hng Kiang said he was invoking the Infectious Diseases Act for what could be the first time since Singapore gained independence in 1965, the Post said.

Singapore's total number of SARS cases is now 65, including 12 in intensive care. That puts it second to Hong Kong, which has 240, and ahead of Vietnam, which has 63.

The new deaths and illnesses in Singapore and Hong Kong are not yet included in the official World Health Organization tally, which now lists 15 countries, 386 cases, and 11 deaths. In addition, there are more than 300 illnesses and 5 deaths in China's Guangdong province that have yet to be officially counted.

[riri]

The problem with a sickness such as this, where the disease is contracted through mucus membranes, is that no matter where you are you are at risk

Initially, it seemed it was not spreading so easily. Only people close to the victims and caretakers were getting infected. Again, I am confused as to just "how contagous" this thing is.

[Mother Abigail]

I believe the 7/10 split is still accurate, will try to check

[Mother Abigail]

In ten days if it was as wildly virulent and some people think, I'd expect to be EVERYWHERE.

Here is what we learned from Singapore:

Original: 3 cases

Four to five days later: 21 people infected by the 3

Four to five days later: 41 people infected by the 21

In ten days you only have two cycles of transmission/symptoms

These are not good numbers

[Mother Abigail]

Singapore

Boy infected, 140 kids sent home
Pat's Schoolhouse closed for 10 days; some parents upset that centre wasn't alerted earlier that boy's mother had the bug

---

My God who is running that program, HK is asking for big trouble

[Mother Abigail]

Pat's Schoolhouse in Lim Ah Pin Road, a childcare centre for 140 two- to six-year-olds, was cleared out because a five-year-old boy, the son of a Sars patient, is down with the bug.

After an alert from Health Ministry officials yesterday morning, the centre began contacting the parents of its 140 students to say it would be shut for 10 days.

The boy had been there the week before, as the centre wasn't closed for the week-long break, something which upset parents.

[Goodlife]

But mother Abigain, those 3 people SURELY interacted with more than 21 people... and then those 21 people only closely interacted with 2 each?

[Mother Abigail]

The transmission must occur while symptoms are present.

It is only in the brief (and I do mean brief) period where the person begins to cough and before they are too sick to be out, that the viral transmission takes place.

You are, of course, right that this is not a highly virulent airborne superbug. But consider the hundreds of travelers who are returning infected from Asia.

Somehow, someway people are becoming infected by strangers. That is the concern

[Mother Abigail]

CASES RISE TO 750

MONDAY, March 24

(HealthScoutNews) --- American health officials now say the overwhelming majority of 39 suspected U.S. cases of SARS involve people who traveled recently to Asia, an area where the deadly respiratory illness has hit the hardest.

The U.S. count of possible victims of the severe acute respiratory syndrome increased by 17 Monday, which moves the country to fourth place on the list of 15 nations reporting cases. New counts Monday from some of those countries, coupled with the revised U.S. totals, now bring the global total of SARS victims to more than 750 stricken and 22 dead.


Thirty-two of the people being monitored in 18 states had traveled recently to Asia, according to Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The others, she told a news conference Monday, are "people who either have lived in the home with the case patient and had very close face-to-face contact or healthcare personnel who had very close contact without using respiratory precautions."

Researchers now have a possible new virus as the cause of the mysterious illness. Gerberding said that the candidate is a previously unknown member of the coronavirus family.

Two coronaviruses are known to infect humans. One is responsible for about one-third of cases of the common cold, while the other frequently causes health care-associated upper respiratory infections in premature infants.
The case for a coronavirus appears to be stronger than that for a paramyxovirus, which was the leading -- and only -- contender as the cause last week.

"There's evidence [for a coronavirus] in a variety of forms," Gerberding said. "We can culture it. We can see it on an electron microscope in respiratory fluids, we have specific assays that are picking it up in a variety of tissues and specimens."
The evidence also shows that one patient who had tested negative to coronavirus antibodies at the beginning of the illness developed antibodies and tested positive by the end of the illness.

"This could still be an incidental finding, but that's looking increasingly doubtful," Gerberding said. "The challenge is, we have a pretty nonspecific illness and we are dealing with families of viruses that are ubiquitous."

"Finding them in tissue is not the same thing as saying they cause the disease," she added. "But we have been able to localize them using pretty sophisticated probes and tissue techniques, and our confidence is building."

Currently, three groups of coronaviruses are known. The new virus, if confirmed, would probably fall into a fourth group.
If confirmed, it's possible that the coronavirus is only one of two or more agents involved.

There are no treatments for illnesses caused by coronaviruses, but Gerberding said the U.S. Department of Defense Department was examining its existing arsenal of antivirals to see whether one would be effective against this particular bug.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, announced two more deaths and another 38 people infected with SARS, the Associated Press reports.
Among them may well be Hong Kong's chief health hospital official, who was hospitalized with pneumonia symptoms Sunday night.

[birdwoman]

I don't know how sanitary we are...have you been in a women's restroom lately? I'm sorry, I DON'T understand why we are not more sanitary and more considerate of one another.

[riri]

Somehow, someway people are becoming infected by strangers

Trying to be optimistic here.

People do things when they are very ill. That man on the plane and in the elevator in HK was very ill and it sounds like he had no business leaving his bed. But he was away from home and doing things he had to do.

Haven't you ever been there?...head pounding, fever raging, dizzy, hacking up a lung going to the grocery for some ginger ale and Nyquil when hubby is out of town. I know I have.

[Domestic Church]

The Chinese keep saying it's chlamydia, don't expect a vaccine from them anytime soon.

At this point I wouldn't trust a vaccine unless it was from the CDC.

[CathyRyan]

Still nothing on ProMED.

[Domestic Church]

"Seems to be most prevalent in oriental, non-Christian nations"

And that just might be the cover for biowarfare to get a firm hold.

[Domestic Church]

Heads up on the real battle ahead...culling the population with germs.

[texson66]

I don't think I would go to Hong Kong right now

[Domestic Church]

"The Baptist World Alliance Youth World Conference will be in Hong Kong this year, starting in mid-July."

Well, at least they some time to move it elsewhere and they had better do that.

[Domestic Church]

"Small oversight on the part of our officials."

What if it isn't an oversight? The EPA has a population control agenda not to mention the greens and the dems.

[Mother Abigail]

LOL

Good on you, yes I have been there.

As you know, all this is rather uncertain at this time. And I must say that optimistic works for me.

Regards

[Domestic Church]

That map is going to keep me from sleeping tonight.

[Domestic Church]

Take another look at the map and the mid-Atlantic through the Northeast will be a hot zone shortly after. And springtime with all the strawberry festivals, triple crown racing, campus springfling etc. will be getting underway.