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Sars like illness near vancouver Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=751&e=2&u=/nm/20030814/hl_nm/health_canada_sars_dchttp://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=751&e=2&u=/nm/20030814/hl_nm/health_canada_sars_dc
'SARS-Like' Illness Being Probed Near Vancouver
Thu Aug 14, 5:59 PM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Allan Dowd
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canadian health officials said on Thursday they were investigating an outbreak of a "SARS (news - web sites)-like" illness at a nursing home near Vancouver that may be linked to the deaths of at least three people.
Officials stressed the illness had demonstrated different characteristics than severe acute respiratory syndrome, but they were taking precautions after preliminary tests found evidence of a virus believed to be linked to SARS.
Officials said the outbreak appeared to be an "isolated incident," and none of the cases at the facility fit "the established definition" of SARS, but that it could be a milder variation of disease.
"In lay terms, it may smell like a duck, but it sure doesn't look or walk like one," said David Patrick of the British Columbia Center for Disease Control.
Three people at the nursing home in suburban Vancouver have died from a respiratory illness in the past month, officials said, raising fears of a SARS outbreak like the one that battered Toronto in spring and summer. There were four other deaths during the same period that were also being investigated.
Health officials in Vancouver said the unknown illness appeared to have peaked in mid-July, but the Kinsmen Place Lodge in Surrey, British Columbia has been put under quarantine while more tests were done.
The tests, including a genetic analysis of the virus, are expected to take several days to complete. Ninety seven of 142 patients at the facility became ill during the outbreak, most with mild cold-like symptoms, and none of the pneumonia cases involved previously healthy people, officials said.
Canadian officials said they had been in contact with the World Health Organization (news - web sites), but said the international organization was not treating it as a new SARS outbreak at this time.
The SARS virus, which originated in southern China, has killed 44 people in the Toronto area, the only place outside Asia where it has claimed lives.
The WHO took Toronto off its list of SARS-affected areas on July 2, after nearly 400 cases.
The flu-like disease has spread to about 30 countries through travelers, killing hundreds of people worldwide.
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