| Toronto health officials -- confronting two possible clusters of 31 new cases of SARS -- were granted a reprieve Saturday when the World Health Organization announced it is not considering declaring an advisory against travel to the city.
WHO spokesman Iain Simpson says there "is absolutely no consideration" of a move to put Toronto back on its SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, travel alert list over new cases now being investigated in the city.
"They are being treated as a cluster of suspected cases" of SARS, Simpson told The Associated Press. If tests positively identify the disease Toronto would be put on the WHO's "factual" list identifying destinations where precautions should be observed, but stops short of warning against travel.
Saturday afternoon, officials of the WHO and Health Canada were on the phone, sharing information about the new cluster of possible SARS cases in the Toronto. Following the conference call, a WHO spokesman said the agency still needs more details before changing its evaluation of the city -- a move which can't be ruled out altogether.
"Theoretically it's possible," Dick Thompson told the Canadian Press. "But it really depends on what ... the investigation in Canada tells us. I can't know at this point."
But for now, Toronto will be kept off the WHO list of SARS-affected areas.
The WHO announcement follows a similar move by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control -- who reissued a SARS travel alert for Toronto Friday. In its alert the CDC doesn't advise against travel to the city, but it does warn American travellers of the reported outbreak.
The announcements come as small relief to Toronto health care workers facing an expanding SARS investigation. Late Friday health officials said the latest potential outbreak may be worse than first thought.
Health officials say they are probing at least two deaths to see if they might be linked to the SARS outbreak. Both cases -- believed to be elderly patients -- are part of a cluster of five identified in Toronto mid-week.
As well, officials are now investigating more than 20 potential new SARS cases in Toronto, involving a second area hospital. The chief microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Donald Low, said the cluster of cases is linked to North York General Hospital and has likely spread to more than 20 people.
"It's so fluid right now,'' Low told a news conference Friday evening. "I think that it's unfair to put a number on it, but we're talking 20s.''
"We're assuming the worst. There has likely been transmission to health-care workers. There has been transmission to family members and there's probably been transmission to other patients."
Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Colin D'Cunha says three of the suspected cases are in critical condition.
The investigation began with the discovery of five suspected cases -- all of whom had spent time at the St. John's Rehabilitation Hospital in north Toronto, Dr. Low said Friday.
Two of the patients are related, though it's unclear which two.
The five have not yet been listed as probable or suspect SARS cases because public health officials have been unable to establish a path of transmission for the illness. Dr. Barbara Yaffe, associate medical officer for Toronto, says in order for the cases to fit the definition of SARS there needs to be an epidemiological link.
"It is not clear what the source of the infection was," she told reporters. "What we are clear about is that it was not community acquired. It is either travel-related or health care institution related."
One of the patients, a 66-year-old woman, returned from a trip to southern China and Hong Kong on April 22.
Health Canada's Dr. Paul Gully says they will not have the results of further viral testing until next Tuesday. One patient has already tested positive for the virus.
Source: Canadian Press | |
