Hospital SARS Outbreak Shows Masks Not Enough

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Early in the SARS outbreak, many of the Hong Kong hospital workers who developed the disease picked it up from patients with unsuspected infection, new research shows. The fact that all of the workers had worn surgical masks suggests that more elaborate protection measures are needed.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Early in the SARS outbreak, many of the Hong Kong hospital workers who developed the disease picked it up from patients with unsuspected infection, new research shows. The fact that all of the workers had worn surgical masks suggests that more elaborate protection measures are needed.The recent global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which is caused by a virus, began in southern China. Before being brought under control, thousands of SARS cases were reported, including several hundred fatalities.Dr. Moira Chan-Yeung, from Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong, and colleagues investigated the spread of SARS at a hospital in Hong Kong between March 25 and May 5, 2003. The study focused on 40 health workers who caught the disease.The results of the study, reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine, show that the workers affected most by the outbreak were healthcare assistants. Eight percent of these employees contracted SARS. The next most strongly affected groups were physicians and nurses.Thirty-two of the infected workers got their disease from infected patients and, in most cases, the patient was not suspected of having SARS. Among the remaining workers, 2 got it from other workers, 3 were exposed to both patients and workers, and 3 got SARS from cleaning hospital areas where patients had been.Although all of the workers had worn masks, just over half also wore gowns or gloves, the investigators note. Seventy-three percent of workers reported regular hand washing. Due to availability issues, only 28 percent of workers wore eye shields.Many of the workers decided to remain at the hospital after becoming aware of their infection, and no SARS cases were seen in any of the workers’ immediate family members.In an Annals editorial, Dr. Richard P. Wenzel and Dr. Michael B. Edmond, from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, comment that “the critical lessons learned from managing the current SARS epidemic should be institutionalized as rational preparations for the next one.”(Source: Reuters, Mon August 4, 2003 08:22 PM ET)