New Killer Pneumonia

sunnygirl272 · Mar 16, 2003

Originally posted by RNonsense
The rabies that was just on the news here was at my hospital. Everyone in contact has to have the shots. Nursing does not pay well enough to compensate for all this @$%@&@#....

huh? rabies? wha'd i miss?

RNonsense · Mar 16, 2003

Sorry to hijack...here's the link...

http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=009b90ba-2331-4dce-adf7-011f1f0d33cf

oramar · Mar 16, 2003

This is scary but that is all you can say for time being. Just not enough info at present. Am I the only one that wonders why a physician who had cared for people with a mystery killer bug got on a plane and proceeded to fly all over the world? I think what RNonsense is saying is that exposure to infectious disease is one of the scary parts of being a nurse. She is also reacting to the fact that nurses are not very well compensated considering the danger they face.

semstr · Mar 16, 2003

This warning is taken very serious here. All planes coming in from Asia AND from Frankfurt are being seperated and all people are checked by doctors.

And of course, the first complainers phoned to radiostations and blablablabla............

edited to correct my spelling, again!!

sixes · Mar 16, 2003

In Toronto Canada there are now 7 cases of this new pnemonia

They are issuing surgical masks and gloves to airport staff.

2 people have died the other 5 are in isolation they visited Hong Kong.

They are looking for people they may have been in contact with.

This is just too scary.

angelbear · Mar 16, 2003

Ok call me paranoid. With all the travel today couldnt it be too late to stop the spread? Did the Dr. know he was potentially contagious?

oramar · Mar 16, 2003

You ask a good question angelbear, if it is highly contagious then the damage is already done, horse is outa the barn. Like I said before, to soon to say anything for sure. If it requires close contact, like say mono for instance, then isolation could work. I think CDC should gear up for this one. None of this sit in the office and wait for some ER doc to notice the problem and call. Need to get the teams out NOW. Send contact people to all big cities. Have them checking ERs and asking questions. Remember many people with Anthrax went first to family doctors and it delayed identification. So some sort of alert should be issued to GP and family practice. If it is turns out to be false alarm, well and good, better than having people dying like with Anthrax.

deespoohbear · Mar 16, 2003

Originally posted by RNonsense
"Most of the latest cases have been among hospital workers"

...don't like THAT one bit!

Gotta agree with you there! Scary stuff!! :eek:

MPHkatie · Mar 16, 2003

Any:eek: word on how they are treating those infected? Supportive care? or Abx? or WHAT? I think the healthcare exposures will decrease as we become aware and use protective gear, but , I have to admit, I'm soon due to go to Africa and I am not liking the look of this...

baseline · Mar 16, 2003

http://www.straitstimes.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,177390,00.html?

It sounds very much like an influenza. They have been warning about this for several years. I wish I could find an article that tells more about the victims...age etc.

Get your rest, eat well, take your vitamins and excercise. And its not to late to get a flu shot. Won't stop this strain, but it will increase immunity to colds and what have you.....keep you healthy.

GRRRRRRR......why dont my links post????? HEATHER

I will copy and paste.

baseline · Mar 16, 2003

MARCH 16, 2003

Killer flu spreads beyond Asia; 3 more die

Singaporean doctor and two companions hospitalised in Frankfurt; deaths in Hanoi and Toronto bring fatalities to nine

THE mysterious flu-like illness in Asia has spread to Europe and Canada, even as it struck seven more people in Singapore and led to a plane-load of Singapore Airlines (SIA) passengers being quarantined in Frankfurt yesterday.

The global death toll climbed to nine yesterday when a nurse in a Hanoi hospital and a mother and son in Canada were reported to have died from the illness.

The SIA flight from New York was detained after the Singapore Health Ministry alerted the airline yesterday that a Singaporean doctor who had symptoms of the illness was on board.

He had treated a patient here in early March and had gone to New York on March 11 for a medical conference. While there, he fell ill with fever, the ministry said.

He and two Singaporean companions have been hospitalised in Frankfurt. The doctor is believed to be the first person in Europe to be infected with the disease.

AP said another 155 passengers who were transiting through Frankfurt were held in quarantine at the airport or sent home and told to remain there.

The remaining Singapore-bound passengers will be flown here on another flight. When they arrive, officers from the ministry and the National Environment Agency will tell them what to do if they develop symptoms of atypical pneumonia.

The ministry said yesterday that all the seven new cases here were people who had been in close contact with the victims. They were two relatives of patients and five hospital staff, bringing the total number of people infected here to 16.

All the patients are in isolation wards and their condition is stable. Though the bug responsible for the infection has not yet been identified, investigations suggest a viral origin, the ministry said.

It also 'strongly advised' that people avoid travelling to Hongkong, Hanoi and Guangdong province in China unless absolutely necessary.

The latest deaths have also prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva to issue a rare emergency travel advisory. It said it had received more than 150 reports of the illness, which it is calling 'acute respiratory syndrome', or Sars, in the past week.

'Sars is now a worldwide health threat,' said WHO director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland.

Officials said the outbreaks are unlikely to be related to terrorism.

Mr Dick Thompson, a WHO spokesman, said: 'Until we can get a grip on it, I don't see how it will slow down. People are not responding to antibiotics and antivirals, it's a highly contagious disease and it's moving around by jet. It's bad.'

The atypical pneumonia is believed to have made its way to Canada because one of the dead and two other family members had visited Hongkong recently.

In the territory, 47 people are now under observation. Two are critically ill. Anxious residents swept surgical masks off shop shelves. 'The government bought 10,000 masks for ambulance workers. How can we not be scared?' said a radio-show caller.

Health Secretary Yeoh Eng Kiong said the situation would be considered under control if no new cases were reported next week.

A WHO team, including epidemiologists from the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, has arrived in Hanoi to gather samples and try to determine the cause of the outbreak.

One more person contracted the illness in Taiwan yesterday, bringing the total toll to three.

Though no cases have been reported in Thailand and Australia, health authorities said they were monitoring the situation and screening passengers arriving by air from the affected areas. -- AP, Reuters, with additional reporting by Mary Kwang in Hongkong and Lawrence Chung in Taiwan

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oramar · Mar 16, 2003

I think Mr. Dick Thompson of the WHO who said, "it is a highly contagious disease and it is moving around by jet, it is bad", is the most honest health official that has spoken on the subject yet. Right now in Canada and US most officals are minimizing. I hope they don't live to rue the day.