"SARS-like" illness being probed near Vancouver
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Canadian health officials said on Thursday they were investigating the deaths of seven people from what appears to be a "SARS-like" illness at a nursing home near Vancouver.
Officials said the illness had demonstrated different characteristics than severe acute respiratory syndrome, but they were taking precautions after preliminary tests found evidence of a virus believed to be linked to SARS.
Officials said the outbreak appeared to be an "isolated incident," and none of the cases at the facility fit "the established definition" of SARS.
"In lay terms, it may smell like a duck, but it sure doesn't look or walk like one," said David Patrick of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.
Three people at the nursing home in suburban Vancouver had died from a respiratory illness in the past month, officials said, raising fears of a SARS outbreak like the one that battered Toronto in spring and summer.
Health officials in Vancouver said the unknown illness appeared to have peaked in mid-July, but the facility had been put under quarantine while more tests were done.
Officials said they had been in contact with the World Health Organization, but said the international organization was not treating it as a new SARS outbreak at this time.
The SARS virus, which originated in southern China, has killed 44 people in the Toronto area, the only place outside Asia where it has claimed lives.
The WHO took Toronto off its list of SARS-affected areas on July 2, after nearly 400 cases.
The flu-like disease has spread to about 30 countries through travelers, killing hundreds of people worldwide.
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