- CANBERRA (Reuters) - A deadly
pneumonia virus spread to Australia, which reported its first suspected
case on Tuesday, and the number of people infected rose in Canada as global
health officials struggled to contain the illness.
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- Australia's chief medical officer, Professor Richard
Smallwood, said he had notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of
one case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) although the affected
person was now well and had not infected anyone else.
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- "We still cannot be sure this person had SARS, but
in the absence of other diagnosis, we thought it would be prudent to alert
the WHO to this unusual case," Smallwood said in a statement.
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- The virus, believed to have originated in China, has
killed some 61 people in recent weeks and infected almost 1,700 worldwide.
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- Canadian health officials reported 31 new cases of the
SARS virus as hospital access across Ontario, the country's most populous
province, was restricted in bid to contain the outbreak.
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- The latest figures bring the number of probable and suspect
cases of SARS to 129, one of the largest outside Asia. Ontario has been
hit with 111 of the cases, with the remainder appearing in British Columbia,
Alberta, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick.
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- Ontario health officials said restrictive hospital measures
put in place in Toronto, such as discouraging visitors and screening patients,
would be extended to every hospital in the province of more than 11 million
people.
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- On Monday, officials in Hong Kong said more than 100
people in one apartment block were suspected to have been infected by the
virus, triggering fears that the killer disease was being spread through
air or water.
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- AUSTRALIAN TRAVELED TO SINGAPORE
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- In Australia, Smallwood said the male patient had traveled
back to Australia on Feb. 12 after spending two days in Singapore and went
to a hospital in Sydney on Feb. 23 with a fever, cough, shortness of breath
and difficulty in breathing.
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- He recovered after two weeks and was released from hospital.
His illness fitted the WHO criteria for SARS that was spelled out in a
health alert on March 14.
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- "There was no spread of SARS from this patient to
his contacts," Smallwood said.
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- The outbreak of SARS, which has no treatment yet, has
sent a wave of panic across Asia, prompting people to cancel trips to the
worst-hit countries and forcing some airlines to reduce flights.
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- Canadian officials said the virus has been contained
largely to medical staff and others who came into close contact with a
handful of SARS victims who traveled from Hong Kong.
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- "I can't say this often enough, the risk to the
general public is extremely low," Dr. Sheela Basrur, Toronto's medical
officer of health, told a news conference.
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- But the death of a fourth Toronto-area patient over the
weekend has prompted some residents of the country's largest city to avoid
public places and don masks on the subway.
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- Many of the customs officials at Toronto's Pearson International
Airport have been wearing face masks as they question arriving passengers.
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- PANIC BUYING OF MASKS
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- The outbreak has prompted panic buying of masks and health-care
workers have complained the Canadian government is not doing enough to
secure supplies.
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- Ontario's commissioner of public security, Dr. James
Young, said on Monday the province has ordered as many masks as possible
but limited supplies means it has to distribute them on the basis of risk.
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- "That, unfortunately, doesn't mean that we can give
everyone in society a mask right now. Nor do we think that everyone needs
a mask right now," he said.
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- Thousands of people who visited two Toronto-area hospitals
before the outbreak was identified have been asked to quarantine themselves
for 10 days.
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- Smallwood has tried to counter any panic in Australia
by stressing that the illnesses' fatality rate of 3 to 5 percent of cases
is relatively low.
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- The WHO believes SARS is linked to a disease that broke
out in China's southern province of Guangdong in November.
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- Deaths have been reported in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Canada,
Singapore and Thailand. The virus has also shown up in Germany and now
Australia.
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