- SAN FRANCISCO -- According
to the Associated Press California, gateway
- to the Pacific rim and home to the nation's largest Asian
population,
- has the highest number of suspected U.S. cases of a mysterious
new
- respiratory illness that first appeared in Asia.
-
- But state and local health officials say the disease
is well under
- control, and all of those sick with severe respiratory
acute syndrome,
- or SARS, are recovering or expected to recover.
-
- "This doesn't seem to be a disease that people are
picking up at the
- grocery store or at a bus station," said Dr. Susan
Fernyak of the San
- Francisco County Health Department. "It's not time
to run out and buy
- white surgical masks."
- But then again...
-
- Orange County health officials said two people who recently
traveled to
- mainland China have contracted a flu-like mystery illness
that has
- killed 78 people worldwide.
-
- The Orange County Health Care Agency would not release
information
- about the patients on Wednesday except to say that one
was roughly 40
- years old, and the other around 60. Neither of the cases
were related
- and both people did not travel together.
-
- Neither person is very ill, but they have been asked
to stay at home
- until 10 days after their symptoms disappear to ensure
they don't
- spread the disease, said Dr. Hildy Myers, medical director
of
- assessment and epidemiology for the Orange County Health
Care Agency.
- The county is sending specimens from the patients to
the California
- Department of Health Services for further evaluation,
Meyers said.
-
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta
reports that
- California has 19 suspected cases - the most for any
state. And state
- health officials say they are investigating another 12
cases.
-
- Of those 31 suspected cases, at least 17 traveled to
southeast Asia in
- recent weeks, and three others share homes with travelers
to Asia. No
- health care workers have been infected so far, state
health officials
- said Wednesday.
-
- Authorities aren't sure why California's cases appear
to be less
- virulent than those in Asia, where most of the deaths
- at least 78
- worldwide - have occurred.
-
- Fernyak said California's cases may be from third or
fourth generations
- of the germ, which could weaken each time it is passed
along. Also, the
- state's different climate and lower population density
may be factors,
- she said.
-
- But these are just theories. No one has conclusively
proved what causes
- the disease, although U.S. health officials say they
are 90 percent
- sure it's a new form of the coronavirus, one of the causes
of the
- common cold.
-
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked
local health
- departments to help track down 140 Americans who stayed
at Hong Kong's
- Metropole Hotel on Feb. 21 or Feb. 22, the same time
a Chinese doctor
- who was dying of the disease was staying there. Most
of those people -
- 118 - are from California.
-
- The impact on business activity is widening from Hong
Kong around the
- globe, disrupting complex supply chains and forcing industries
from
- airlines to banking to adjust how they operate.
-
- On Tuesday, an American Airlines flight from Tokyo was
isolated on the
- tarmac at San Jose's international airport after the
captain reported
- that five people on board might have symptoms of SARS.
It turned out to
- be a false alarm.
-
- Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County director of
public health,
- notes that the number of suspected cases in California
is small
- considering the state's population of 34 million. Health
officials also
- say the number seems low because California is home to
3.7 million
- Asians and a key point in the brisk tide of people crossing
the Pacific
- Ocean.
-
- San Francisco, with a population that's 31 percent Asian,
has reported
- just a single suspected case.
-
- At least 11 other people in the surrounding San Francisco
Bay Area are
- suspected of falling ill. Los Angeles County has reported
seven
- possible cases.
-
- http://www.sierratimes.com/03/04/04/articleca.htm
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