New SARS outbreak feared in Toronto

A religious group has possibly been infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome……

A religious group has possibly been infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome……A religious group has possibly been infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Toronto, Canada.The infection has triggered concerns that the fatal illness could spread to parts of the general population.All 13 Canadian SARS deaths have been reported in Toronto.Toronto is the region hardest hit by SARS outside Asia.A 78-year-old woman returned to the city from Hong Kong, unwittingly spreading SARS to her family.They then infected health care workers and hospital patients.Since the start of the SARS outbreak in mid-March, Canadian health officials have been able to trace back the majority of cases to that index case and stressed that SARS was not being transmitted in the general population.SARS, which originated in China’s Guangdong province in November, has been transmitted to the general population in both China and Hong Kong.Most of the more than 200 people infected and the thousands in voluntary quarantine in Ontario province are health care workers or patients who had contact with the two hospitals first affected by the outbreak.Only about 10 possible SARS cases are travel-related in the Toronto region, while the majority of cases outside of Toronto have been in travellers returned from Asia.But with the possible SARS infection of 29 members of the Catholic group Bukas-Loob Sa Diyos (BLD) Covenant Community of Toronto, many in the community are concerned that tracking and containing the illness could already be out of hand.In an April 13 letter, Toronto medical officer Sheela Basrur told 500 members of the Catholic group to go into voluntary quarantine for 10 days.”Failure to comply with these requirements will place at risk not only your own health but also the health of your family, BLD members and possibly others in the broader community,” she said.The development is a severe setback to local health officials, who after the closure of two hospitals and three schools watched as only small increases of 10 or fewer possible SARS cases were reported over the past few days.Now, they have to try to trace the steps of these 500 individuals to see if they have infected others at the workplace or in the public settings.”All the stops have to come out now. We have a short window of opportunity to try to contain this,” Donald Low, chief microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital, told The Globe and Mail.With the latest development, one Toronto doctor told hospital officials, according to an email obtained by the newspaper: “We are on the cusp of community spread … Many (of those exposed) have had extensive mobility in the community.”Asked about whether the latest development meant a possible spread to the general community, Canadian Medical Association president Dana Hanson said: “We’ve always dealt with it as a very serious problem and it continues to be just that for the public.”Steps being taken are reasonable and we should be following them, so that situations like this should be minimized.”This isn’t over yet. Have we peaked [in the number of cases] or not? One cannot say at this particular time.”We’re still in evolution at this point.”Within Canada, there are about 287 probable (with respiratory x-rays showing respiratory distress) and suspect cases, the majority of these (236) are in Ontario, whose provincial capital is Toronto.Other cases were reported in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia (39), New Brunswick (2), Saskatchewan (1), Alberta (5) and Prince Edward Island (4).The worldwide death toll from the disease now stands at 152, with more than 3,500 confirmed or suspected cases in more than 30 countries.(Source: ABC Online; Wednesday, April 16, 2003. 5:37am (AEST))