Patient isolated in SARS scare

A patient has been isolated at a Belleville hospital with what officials are calling an “undiagnosed respiratory illness,” raising fears of a possible SARS case.

A patient has been isolated at a Belleville hospital with what officials are calling an “undiagnosed respiratory illness,” raising fears of a possible SARS case. A spokesperson for Quinte Health Care Belleville General hospital said the patient had recently travelled to several overseas countries. However, the hospital won’t say which countries the unidentified patient visited, or when the person returned to Canada. Hospital staff members are taking special precautions to protect staff, patients and visitors. Severe acute respiratory syndrome is a recently discovered and sometimes fatal disease that attacks the respiratory system. Hundreds of people in the Greater Toronto Area were afflicted during an outbreak in 2003, and thousands more underwent voluntary quarantines. The disease is considered contagious when an infected person is in close contact with others. All of Canada’s 44 SARS-related fatalities in 2003 occurred in the GTA. There have been no confirmed cases of SARS in Canada this year. Ontario’s Ministry of Health has been advised of the Belleville case and is monitoring the situation, a ministry spokesperson said Monday. (Source: CBC Canada, May 2004)