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2 probable cases minnesota Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.kstp.com/article/view/94404/http://www.kstp.com/article/view/94404/
Two probable cases of SARS in Minnesota
Updated: 04-25-2003 08:30:15 PM
By PATRICK HOWE
Associated Press Writer
ST. PAUL (AP) - Friday on Eyewitness News, reporter Richelle McGinnis told viewers about the first two probable cases of SARS in Minnesota: a 2-year-old boy from Ramsey County and a 14-month-old infant from Scott County.
Minnesota Department of Health officials said the boy recently visited the Toronto area but did not have contact there with anyone thought to have SARS. He had been hospitalized but was released Thursday and is now recovering.
The infant had recently traveled to China, where 2,601 people have been diagnosed with the disease. The infant's symptoms, including evidence of pneumonia, developed Thursday but were not serious enough to warrant hospitalization.
"He wasn't very ill," said Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Health Department. He said the department learned of the case Friday afternoon, after a news conference earlier in the day about the boy.
The boy fit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's definition of a probable case because he showed
evidence of pneumonia on X-rays. He was one of 41 cases considered probable by the CDC as of Friday evening, state officials said.
State Epidemiologist Harry Hull stressed that the boy became a probable case only because he fit some very explicit guidelines from the CDC, not because he was seriously ill, and that they made the announcement only out of an abundance of caution.
"The most likely cause of this child's illness is something other than SARS," Hull said. But given the CDC's definitions, he
said, "we have to call this SARS, we have to treat it as SARS, because our job is to protect the health of the citizens of
Minnesota."
Clinical specimens from both children have been sent to the CDC to be tested for the virus thought to cause SARS. Officials won't know for three or four weeks, when they get an antibody test back, whether the children indeed had the disease.
Further details about the children were not released.
Hull said the identification of the boy's case does not mean Minnesotans are now at increased risk of getting SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome.
The boy visited a physician's clinic on Tuesday just prior to being hospitalized. Health officials will contact people who may
have been at the doctor's office, along with others who might have had direct contact with the ill child, to alert them to the
possibility of exposure.
Officials would not name the clinic or hospital. Hull said they believe they have a good handle on who was exposed, and publicizing the hospital or clinic would cause undue concern among others who have been to them recently. Nineteen health workers had contact with the boy before he was diagnosed, and they're being monitored.
The flu-like illness has already killed more than 260 people worldwide and infected more than 4,300. Minnesota reported seven suspected cases earlier this month, though none advanced to the probable level.
The World Health Organization has advised people against travel to Toronto, one of the world's SARS hot zones. SARS has killed 16 people in Canada, which has reported more than 300 probable and suspected cases. Canadian officials have objected to the WHO's designation, calling it unjustified. The CDC just says people traveling to Toronto should take precautions such as avoiding health care facilities caring for SARS patients.
Hull said Minnesota's case does not increase concern about travel to the Toronto area.
©2003 Hubbard Broadcasting Inc.
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