Cruise passenger examined for SARS
( You boyz just don't get it do you?Here is how the passenger I mentioned before SHOULD have been handled.You want use this SARS thang as a defence for your lying President's behavior in taking your country to war and then crapping on all the countries that didn't buy the bullshit? Sorry son,that dog won't hunt.
Did officials " sugar coat " the SARS situation?I have no doubt they played it down,since American's are so freaked out on everything these days,they likely did to avoid causing panic and riots in Detroit! heh heh )
SKAGWAY: Canadian woman has some symptoms of deadly disease.
By ANN POTEMPA and PAULA DOBBYN
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: June 7, 2003)
State health officials reported a second possible SARS case in Alaska after an elderly Canadian woman developed a high fever and cough while traveling on a cruise ship that docked in Skagway on Thursday.
The patient was in a Juneau hospital Friday, and although she has several symptoms characteristic of SARS, health officials said some other ailment is probably to blame.
"We think it's highly unlikely that she truly has SARS," said Dr. Beth Funk, medical epidemiologist.
Funk said this patient, just like the first patient with possible severe acute respiratory syndrome, has not increased the risk of the potentially deadly virus in Alaska. As of Friday, the World Health Organization reported more than 8,400 SARS infections worldwide, and almost 800 deaths. No deaths have been reported in the United States.
Alaska's newest patient with possible SARS is a Canadian woman in her 80s who arrived in Skagway on Thursday morning on a cruise ship and was later flown by medical airplane to Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau. Several health officials would not release the name of the ship.
But Erik Elvejord, a spokesman for Holland America Line, confirmed that the patient was medically evacuated from the 781-foot Volendam, which carries up to 1,440 passengers.
Elvejord said the 85-year-old woman had a history of heart problems and pneumonia. After developing a fever onboard, the woman was given a chest X-ray in the ship's infirmary that confirmed she had pneumonia.
Because the woman had traveled from Toronto, which has seen a number of suspected SARS cases, she was having her temperature taken daily as a precaution, he said.
State health officials said no one on the ship is being quarantined, and the vessel has been allowed to continue its cruise that started Monday in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Elvejord said the woman's cabin has been isolated and will be intensively sanitized.
"There are a small number of people that are going to be followed for the next couple of days," Funk said. "But none of their activities are going to be restricted, because they're healthy."
Those people include the health care workers who treated the patient onboard the ship, some of the ship's staff and one traveling companion who shared a room with her, Funk said.
Funk said the patient's illness meets the case definition for probable SARS, considering she had a high fever, a cough, a chest X-ray that showed pneumonia and had recently traveled through Toronto. Even so, Funk said the woman is likely suffering from a different condition, considering she has other chronic health problems. Plus, her contact with Toronto was in the airport there, she said.
"We know that in Toronto right now they've had a resurgence of SARS, but the information we have is it's still all associated with hospital spread, not community-based spread, not spread through an airport," Funk said.
Preliminary tests have shown the patient doesn't have influenza, Funk said. Other tests are still pending.
Some tests are still pending for the first patient in Alaska who had suspected SARS. That patient was a 28-year-old male cargo jetliner co-pilot from China. So far, none of his tests have come back positive for the SARS virus, Funk said.
Funk said the newest patient started developing symptoms Wednesday. Thursday morning, she visited the ship's clinic. Later that morning, the ship made a scheduled stop in Skagway and the patient was flown to Juneau.
The medical airplane and hospital staff transporting the patient knew ahead of time that the patient might have SARS and took precautions, Funk said. Jan Beauchamp, infection control coordinator at Bartlett hospital, said her staff prepared an isolated hospital room, cleared the hallways while transporting the patient and wore protective gowns, goggles, gloves and masks when caring for the patient.
Elvejord said Holland America has adopted a strict protocol to handle possible SARS cases. It involves screening passengers about their health and recent travel before they board any Holland America ships. Anyone who has visited Taiwan, mainland China and Singapore within 10 days of their cruise will be denied passage and offered a refund. And anyone who has been in Toronto or Vietnam within that time frame will receive enhanced screening, including having their temperatures taken, he said. |
