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TORONTO (CP) - As many as 120 people who aren't on the list of Canada's probable or suspect SARS cases may actually have had the disease, testing done by Health Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory has shown. And experts say it's crucial to find those individuals and figure out whether they actually had SARS and whether they have spread it to others. "It's a worry. It's an important thing to try to figure out why, (and) what this means," said scientific director Dr. Frank Plummer. The Winnipeg lab, in conjunction with Ontario officials and public health authorities in the locations where...

At a time when the SARS outbreak appears to be winding down, both in Canada and internationally, a number of puzzling and worrisome scientific developments cast a pall over the hopefulness. These include: Revelations that as many as 170 people in Canada may have had SARS without knowing it; Renewed worries that the SARS virus may be mutating; A warning that SARS may return with a vengeance in the fall, when respiratory diseases flourish; New research that suggests people with SARS may be slipping through the cracks because guidelines for diagnosing new cases are inadequate. The research, published in Friday's...

Evaluation of WHO criteria for identifying patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome out of hospital: prospective observational study Objectives To determine the clinical and radiological features of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and to evaluate the accuracy of the World Health Organization's guidelines on defining cases of SARS. Design Prospective observational study. Setting A newly set up SARS screening clinic in the emergency department of a university hospital in Hong Kong's New Territories. Participants 556 hospital staff, patients, and relatives who attended the screening clinic and who had had contact with someone with SARS. Main outcome measure Number of confirmed...

SARS Epidemic May Reemerge, CDC Director Warns Wed June 18, 2003 03:04 PM ET CHICAGO (Reuters) - Like deadly flu epidemics of the past, SARS may reemerge later this year as a global health threat, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. Dr. Julie Gerberding pointed out that infectious diseases like SARS and monkeypox are spread around the world by travelers or by trade in exotic animals. "This is the new normal: emerging infectious diseases ... that create immediate global concerns because of the movement of people and animals," Gerberding said in a...

Two more people who were part of the re-emergence of SARS in Toronto last week died in hospital overnight, bringing the nation's death toll to 29. "It is with some regret that I wish to advise all of you that two individuals have passed away with SARS-like symptoms overnight," Ontario's Commissioner of Public Health, Colin D'Cunha, told a news conference Wednesday. He said both women were over the age of 65. Meanwhile, nearly 2,000 people in a Toronto suburb have been asked to go into quarantine after a student attended an area high school with symptoms of SARS. The teenager...

HONG KONG - The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about the sudden drop of new severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases reported from mainland China, doubting whether the epidemic's situation is as good as what the figures show. "The Chinese authorities are obviously adopting a definition different from ours," Peter Cordingley, spokesman of WHO West Pacific Regional Office (WPRO), said on Thursday in an interview with Asia Times Online. "There is a wide spectrum of SARS patients. While some show all kinds of symptoms including fever, coughing, etc, some may show no symptoms at all. We are afraid the...

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) - Multi-country outbreak - Update 44 1 May 2003 Disease Outbreak Reported Situation in China, revised case definition, support to national labs Situation in ChinaThe number of new SARS cases continues to increase steadily in China, particularly in Beijing. Today, China reported 187 new cases and 11 deaths, more than half of which were in the capital.WHO officials in China believe the development of a central database of operational SARS data would greatly aid in combating the disease. The next few months will prove crucial in the attempt to contain SARS worldwide, which now...

May 23, 2003, 10:00 PM ET The previous CDC SARS case definition (published May 20, 2003) has been updated as follows: In the Epidemiologic Criteria, the last date of illness onset for inclusion as reported case for Toronto, Canada is now “ongoing.” Clinical Criteria Asymptomatic or mild respiratory illness Moderate respiratory illness Temperature of >100.4º F (>38º C)*, and One or more clinical findings of respiratory illness (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, or hypoxia). Severe respiratory illness Temperature of >100.4º F (>38º C)*, and One or more clinical findings of respiratory illness (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, difficulty...

WHO raises concerns about how Toronto's SARS cases are counted HELEN BRANSWELL Canadian Press Wednesday, May 28, 2003 TORONTO (CP) - The World Health Organization has raised concerns about a method of determining probable SARS cases adopted by the Ontario government earlier this week, a method which is having the impact of downplaying the size of the current outbreak in Toronto. The concerns were raised in a teleconference with Health Canada officials Wednesday. During the call, officials in Ottawa told their WHO counterparts that Health Canada planned to devise a new definition that would be more sensitive and would better...

To describe the epidemiology of SARS and to monitor the magnitude and the spread of this disease, in order to provide advice on prevention and control. Case definitions (revised 1 May 2003) Introduction The surveillance case definitions based on available clinical and epidemiological data are now being supplemented by a number of laboratory tests and will continue to be reviewed as tests currently used in research settings become more widely available as diagnostic tests. Preliminary clinical description of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome summarizes what is currently known about the clinical features of SARS. Countries may need to adapt case definitions...