Local News - April 2003

Health officials keep SARS vigil

Published April 02, 2003

By JEREMY ASHTON, LTN Staff Writer

The mysterious illness from the Far East that has been blamed for dozens of deaths and infected hundreds worldwide may have made its way to North Carolina.

Four suspected cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome have been reported in North Carolina since March 19, including a new one in neighboring Mecklenburg County.

“Since the beginning of this, we have communicated with the local health departments and our regional response teams and within our health network as to the situation that’s evolving worldwide, as well as what’s happening here in North Carolina,” said Kathy Dail, epidemiologist with the N.C. Division of Public Health, Tuesday during a conference call for reporters.

Little is known about the cause of SARS, Dail said, leading to a large-scale effort to try to “understand the illness and contain it.”

“We’re watching to see what is happening, but at the same time, this is a big country,” Dail said. “We have a lot of people and a lot of people that have absolutely no risk at this point or very minimal risk.”

According to the Web site for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the case definition for SARS is a person with a “respiratory illness of unknown origin” with the onset of symptoms after Feb. 1 who meets the following criteria:

 Measured body temperature greater than 100.5 F,

 One or more clinical findings of respiratory illness like coughing or shortness of breath,

 Travel within 10 days of the onset of symptoms to China, Hong Kong, Vietnam or Singapore, or close contact in that same time period to anyone with a respiratory illness who visited those areas.

The CDC says SARS appears to be spread by droplet transmission when someone sick coughs or sneezes. The organization indicated it could be spread more broadly through the air or by touching contaminated objects.

The CDC suspects SARS is caused by a coronavirus, a type of virus that appears to have a halo when viewed under a microscope, but it is investigating other possibilities.

While health organizations continue researching SARS, Dail said the best thing people can do to avoid getting the illness is to practice the same rules for other communicable diseases.

“If we just go on what we know about other viruses, we know that it’s important for people to be in good health and practice good hygiene — the things we learned in kindergarten,” Dail said.

Since Nov. 1, the World Health Organization has documented 1,804 cases of SARS with the large majority showing up in China. The illness is thought to be responsible for 62 deaths.

Only 69 cases have been documented in the United States with no deaths related to the disease.

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Staff Writer Jeremy Ashton can be reached at 704-735-3031 or jashton@ltnews.com.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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