Deadly Infection Remains a Mystery
Toronto (Canada):
Medical experts are continuing their investigation into a mystery illness that has killed at least four residents at a Toronto nursing home. Although the deaths sparked fears of an epidemic such as the SARS outbreak that killed 44 people in 2003, health officials say their testing has ruled out several of the most feared infectious diseases.
"We know from the testing that's been done so far that this is not influenza. We know this is not SARS. We know this is not avian influenza," said Allison McGeer, an infectious-disease consultant at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital who worked extensively on the SARS epidemic.
"There are many other viruses it could be," Dr. McGeer said, "and the Ontario Public Health lab is working very hard on identifying which one of those viruses it might be."
The infection swept through the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged late last week, affecting 68 residents and five staff members. The first signs appeared Tuesday evening, when a resident exhibited flu-like symptoms at the Scarborough facility. By Friday, a number of residents were seriously ill, and by Saturday, four had died.
Barbara Yaffe, director of communicable-disease control at Toronto's public health department, said all of the victims had severe, pre-existing medical conditions. Two were in their 90s, another in the late 70s, and the fourth in the 50s.
The facility houses 250 people. Three of the victims died there, while the fourth died in hospital, according to medical officials. A fifth resident died yesterday morning of cardiac arrest, but the case does not appear to be related to the outbreak at the facility.
Although outbreaks are not uncommon, Dr. Yaffe said the Seven Oaks case set off alarms because of its severity. "We get hundreds of outbreaks every year, however in this situation we do have a particularly serious outbreak," she said.
Fifteen people from Seven Oaks have been admitted to hospitals in the area, but none have been quarantined. Even so, emergency-room staff at nearby Centenary Hospital donned gowns and masks as a procedural precaution -- a standard practice in Ontario hospitals after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory sydrome in March of 2003. The hospital also banned visitors to the emergency-room area.
Oct 3, 2005
Peter Cheney, Globe and Mail, Canada
Toronto (Canada):
Medical experts are continuing their investigation into a mystery illness that has killed at least four residents at a Toronto nursing home. Although the deaths sparked fears of an epidemic such as the SARS outbreak that killed 44 people in 2003, health officials say their testing has ruled out several of the most feared infectious diseases.
"We know from the testing that's been done so far that this is not influenza. We know this is not SARS. We know this is not avian influenza," said Allison McGeer, an infectious-disease consultant at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital who worked extensively on the SARS epidemic.
"There are many other viruses it could be," Dr. McGeer said, "and the Ontario Public Health lab is working very hard on identifying which one of those viruses it might be."
The infection swept through the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged late last week, affecting 68 residents and five staff members. The first signs appeared Tuesday evening, when a resident exhibited flu-like symptoms at the Scarborough facility. By Friday, a number of residents were seriously ill, and by Saturday, four had died.
Barbara Yaffe, director of communicable-disease control at Toronto's public health department, said all of the victims had severe, pre-existing medical conditions. Two were in their 90s, another in the late 70s, and the fourth in the 50s.
The facility houses 250 people. Three of the victims died there, while the fourth died in hospital, according to medical officials. A fifth resident died yesterday morning of cardiac arrest, but the case does not appear to be related to the outbreak at the facility.
Although outbreaks are not uncommon, Dr. Yaffe said the Seven Oaks case set off alarms because of its severity. "We get hundreds of outbreaks every year, however in this situation we do have a particularly serious outbreak," she said.
Fifteen people from Seven Oaks have been admitted to hospitals in the area, but none have been quarantined. Even so, emergency-room staff at nearby Centenary Hospital donned gowns and masks as a procedural precaution -- a standard practice in Ontario hospitals after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory sydrome in March of 2003. The hospital also banned visitors to the emergency-room area.
Oct 3, 2005
Peter Cheney, Globe and Mail, Canada
