SARS Roundup: April 27, 2003

SUNDAY, April 27, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- As the number of deaths from sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) continued to climb in China and Toronto over the weekend, the Chinese government made further attempts to restrict the disease's spread.

The Beijing government shut down a number of public gathering places, including theaters, Internet cafes and discos. according to the Associated Press.

But the virus is still spreading and causing death. According to AP, 161 new cases of infection of SARS were reported, 126 in Beijing. The total number of cases in mainland China is now just under 3,000. Nine new deaths were reported, bringing the China total (excluding Hong Kong) to 131. Worldwide, more than 300 people have died from SARS.

And there's more disturbing news. The disease has claimed its first life in nearby Taiwan, according to AP. The victim was a 56-year-old man who had contracted the disease from his brother.

Taiwan's government imposed a 10-day mandatory quarantine on all people arriving China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and Toronto.

Even though Toronto's death toll climbed to 21 over the weekend, the international health organization that imposed a travel ban last week was hinting it might reconsider.

"We're re-examining that decision," World Health Organization spokesman Dick Thompson told the Canadian TV cable news network. "I don't know what the outcome will be."

Two people are being monitored in the United States for the flu-like virus that has already claimed more than 295 lives and affected more than 4,600 people, most of them in China.

The Associated Press reports that two recent visitors to Toronto -- a Brown University faculty member and a 2-year-old Minnesota boy -- are being monitored as possible SARS cases.

About 250 suspected cases of SARS have occurred in Toronto, resulting in 21 deaths, including one each on Saturday and Sunday. The most recent Toronto fatality was the husband of a health care worker who previously contracted SARS.

The identity of the Brown University professor hasn't been made public, but students and faculty members who may have had contact with the teacher have been informed, officials said. The professor, who works in the biology department, has been asked to stay away from the campus while the monitoring continues.

In Minnesota, two very young children are being tested for SARS, one of them having been on a trip to Toronto and the other having been in China.

Minnesota Health Department officials said the 2-year-old boy recently visited the Toronto area and the infant had recently traveled to China, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, Asian health officials met over the weekend to determine the best way to control the SARS outbreak. The AP says India reported its fifth case of SARS, and Hong Kong raised its death toll to 132. Singapore reported one new death, bringing that country's total to 20.

One victim of all this doesn't even have SARS. China's Health Minister Zhang Wenkang, who had been stripped of his Communist Party posts last weekend, was relieved of his duties as minister on Saturday.

Precautions against SAR have spilled over into the tourist industry.

Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean Cruises have issued a new policy: If a passenger has a fever more than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit and has recently been to Toronto, he or she may be kept from boarding the ship.

The Associated Press reports that the two steamship lines announced the policy Friday. They already had banned passengers who had recently traveled to China, Singapore, Hong Kong or Vietnam.

Scientific research into isolating the SARS virus has gone all that well, either.

A detection test being developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been, at best, inconclusive, the AP reports.

CDC officials said this week that about seven of the 13 probable cases of SARS that were tested came up negative.

"The fact that some of our probable SARS cases are not virologically positive is not surprising," CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding, told the AP.

The SARS virus is apparently in a broad range of flu-like illnesses and is difficult to isolate, she said. And, she added, scientists haven't yet zeroed in on the timing of the test to make sure the virus is caught at its most identifiable stage.

The Chinese government is setting up roadblocks around Beijing and Shanghai to prevent infected people from spreading the disease, the Voice of America reports. On Friday, only a few cars were allowed to pass through checkpoints on roads leading out of the city.

The outbreak has forced China to postpone the start of the season for its men's and women's professional soccer teams. The SARS crisis may also affect the women's soccer World Cup, scheduled to be played in China this September and October, according to the Times.

Meanwhile, medical workers under quarantine for two weeks at a hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, protested their confinement by displaying banners and throwing bottles and paper from windows, the Associated Press reports.

And in Singapore, people with SARS who break quarantine could face jail without trial under new government rules meant to contain the disease.

The publicity about SARS has caused some travel problems for residents of Toronto and surrounding areas. A girls' soccer team scheduled to play exhibition matches in Pennsylvania was told its games had been cancelled by the American organizers, the Toronto Star reports.

And hundreds of Toronto-area pilgrims had been asked by organizers to stay away from an outdoor Catholic mass on Sunday in Stockbridge, Mass.

More information

To learn more about SARS, visit the World Health Organization or the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.