SARS continues to spread in N.Y.
nyjournalnews.com
By CAREN HALBFINGER
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: March 30, 2003)
As scientists close in on the cause of the mysterious severe acute respiratory syndrome, fears of the deadly flu-like illness escalated yesterday with a spate of discouraging news.
In Hong Kong, 58 new cases were reported in one day; two National Hockey League players suspected of exposure were put under medical observation, and U.S. health officials said antiviral drugs and other treatments have been ineffective.
Also yesterday, an expanded travel warning was issued, and the Italian doctor who first diagnosed the disease, Dr. Carlo Urbani, died from it.
In emergency rooms and clinics here and abroad, physicians and public health experts are on the alert for symptoms of the disease, which appears to have originated in Guangdong Province, China, in November. They have new procedures in place to report, isolate and treat anyone with the disease in an effort to prevent it from spreading.
"We have to continue to look for cases until it is clear from the health authorities that are monitoring the disease that they're no longer seeing new cases,'' said Dr. Marisa Montecalvo, an infectious-disease specialist at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. "How the public can protect itself is, if you know someone who has been to the region where SARS has spread who develops flu-like symptoms, be sure they seek health care.''
In all, SARS has sickened at least 1,550 people in 13 nations and killed 54 of them since it was identified in an American businessman admitted to a hospital in Vietnam about five months ago. Among those stricken by the global illness are nine New Yorkers and 53 residents of 21 other states, including a Putnam County man who had recently returned from Hong Kong.
Yesterday, officials suggested postponing nonessential travel to China, Singapore or Vietnam.
In the United States, the only diagnosed cases involve people who traveled to China or Vietnam within the past few weeks and then developed a high fever, aches and pains, difficulty breathing, and a cough or pneumonia. Their family members or others who had face-to-face contact with them and the health-care workers who treated them also are at risk.
Scientists investigating the outbreaks have linked many of the cases to the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong, where an infected medical professor from China stayed last month and spread it to seven people there. Three people in Toronto have died. SARS was transmitted there by two guests at the Hong Kong hotel who traveled to Toronto.
On Friday, health officials said a 47-year-old Putnam County man who had traveled to Hong Kong apparently had been infected. He had a cough and fever, but was not sick enough to be hospitalized.
There were five cases in New York City and four outside of the city, including a mother and infant daughter from Jefferson County, about 60 miles north of Syracuse, who traveled from China.
The baby became sick first, and was hospitalized for a few days while staying in Louisiana, said Kristine Smith, a spokeswoman for the state Health Department. The mother had mild symptoms and was not hospitalized.
Both are recovering and no other family members became ill; the state Health Department said it had no reason to think others were infected.
Two defensemen for the Buffalo Sabres hockey team, while showing no symptoms, were being kept under a medical watch for possible exposure to SARS.
Health officials in upstate Onondaga County also announced that a 17-month-old who had recently traveled from China had become ill with a suspected case of SARS. The child is expected to recover.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are advising those who do travel overseas to monitor their health for at least 10 days and consult a doctor if they exhibit SARS symptoms. The World Health Organization now recommends that airlines with flights leaving from Toronto, Singapore, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Guangdong Province and Beijing question passengers at check-in for signs of SARS. Those who are sick should be barred from boarding, the World Health Organization said.
In New York, state Health Department officials have been working their way through airline passenger lists to interview 86 New Yorkers who were on international flights with people thought to have SARS. None who was reached has developed symptoms, Smith said.
Researchers worldwide are leaning toward identifying a new strain of coronavirus as the cause of SARS, said Dr. James Hughes, director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases at the CDC.
Coronavirus is in the family of viruses that causes the common cold and pneumonia, Montecalvo of the Westchester Medical Center said. What's unusual now, she said, is that such a large number of people are developing severe respiratory symptoms. Age does not appear to be a factor, since people from 25 to 70 have developed serious symptoms.
One theory researchers are exploring is that this strain of coronavirus originated in animals and then jumped species, infecting humans, as hantavirus did in a 1993 outbreak among college students in the southwest. |
