A Worldwide Alert On Mystery Illness

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A Worldwide Alert On Mystery Illness

But no U.S. cases confirmed so farBy Laurie GarrettStaff WriterMarch 17, 2003Health officials throughout the world are on high alert over a deadly, mysterious respiratory disease outbreak that appears to have begun in the fall in China and, in the past three weeks, shown up in several Asian locales and Canada.No cases have been confirmed in the United States. A doctor who attended a medical conference in Manhattan last week was hospitalized with symptoms on the flight home to Singapore, during a stopover in Germany. He had treated two patients diagnosed with the ailment before flying to New York and had begun to feel ill before leaving New York. But the doctor treating him in furt said yesterday it was unclear if he had the mysterious illness or typical pneumonia.On Saturday, the World Health Organization issued an extremely unusual global alert for "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)," characterized as "an atypical pneumonia for which cause has not yet been determined." The alert noted that travelers and hospitals throughout the world should be vigilant for appearance of unusual respiratory disease cases.The WHO estimates that 500 people have been sickened worldwide. Nine deaths have been reported, seven in Asia and two in Canada, where a woman and her grown son died in Toronto after visiting Hong Kong.The microbe responsible for the disease has not been identified, WHO's infectious diseases chief, Dr. Heymann, said in an interview yesterday. Heymann said patients have shown severe drops in white blood cell and platelet counts as well as rapidly soaring fevers - clues that point to a viral cause. The illness does not respond to antibiotics, indicating the source is unlikely to be bacterial.Additional symptoms may include cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing and "either close contact with a person who has been diagnosed with SARS or recent history of travel [within last 10 days] to areas reporting cases of SARS," the WHO said in the statement. "Symptoms may also include headache, muscle stiffness, loss of appetite, malaise, confusion, rash, and diarrhea."The Singapore physician was in New York City to attend a conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, off Times Square. About 250 infectious diseases physicians and nurses were scheduled to attend. Because those health care workers could have contact with patients in the coming days, the city Department of Health's chief of communicable diseases, Dr. Marcelle Layton, provided conference organizers with details about the individual and what's known about SARS.So far, there is no evidence that the mysterious microbe is spread casually, as is the case with influenza. Nearly all identified cases have involved either family members or health care workers who tended to an infected patient. For that reason, Layton said, city officials determined that there was no significant risk to those at the conference, or to their patients.Layton said that her conversation with the man, by telephone from his furt hospital bed, allayed her fears about possible spread of the illness here.According to a city Department of Health statement, the physician "arrived in New York City on March 12, had minimal contact with others, and departed on March 14."WHO's Heymann said his agency has not yet ruled out the possibility that the SARS microbe spread in Hanoi or Hong Kong through hospital ventilation systems.Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the outbreak and alert were "very worrisome" and noted that "it appears to be moving fairly rapidly, starting in Asia." WHO spokesman Dick said in an interview, "There are reasons for concern, but I don't think there are reasons for panic." Both and Cheney ruled out a terrorism connection.On Saturday, China provided WHO with the first detailed information about an outbreak that began in November in Guangdong Province. China has yet to provide patient samples to outside authorities for analysis. Heymann said at least 305 people contracted the disease in Guangdong, and the number of deaths there is unknown.Though WHO is not recommending that anyone limit travel plans, the agency did over the weekend request that all airlines watch for passengers with unusual symptoms. Pilots are requested to notify ground authorities of any suspected respiratory cases before landing.This story was supplemented with material from The Associated Press. Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.