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CNN Live Today
SARS Claims More Victims
Aired April 22, 2003 - 10:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: SARS has claimed more victims. China is reporting 157 more confirmed cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. That's the disease that has alarmed health officials with its swift spread. These numbers in China continuing to grow, even after increased numbers yesterday.
Our medical news correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here with a closer look AT what health officials know about SARS right now and the outbreak.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is incredible. It really has...
HARRIS: It's got to be kind of scary to see these numbers in China keep growing by the hundreds each day.
COHEN: But it's important to remember that it's growing not because hundreds more necessarily are getting it every day, but because China, health officials believe, withheld some numbers, and then sort of dumped them all at one time. So that's an important thing to remember.
But let's talk about what we know about SARS. What we know about SARS at this point, is that it is caused by a strain of the corona virus, and that this particular strain has never been seen before. You can see it right there. There's the virus. It's never been seen before in animals or human beings, and that it makes this particularly difficult to deal with because they've never been faced with this particular virus before. We also know it has a 3 percent to 4 percent death rate. Obviously, no death is a good thing. But that is a relatively low death rate, compared to some other respiratory diseases, like pneumonia and flu.
We also know, and this is from the World Health Organization. The WHO says if this disease is managed well, it will not spread, or will not spread very far. What they means is that if someone is found to have the disease, and if that person is immediately isolated and others around him are quarantined, if necessary, it will not spread.
Now, unfortunately, that has not been the case in parts of Canada. Canada has seen this disease grow and grow. The Numbers in Canada are very disturbing, 132 cases and 12 deaths, and it's believed that's because Canada saw this disease very early on, they didn't know what they were facing, and so didn't always put the precautions that we now know are necessary.
In the United States, that has not been the case. In the United States only 38 probable cases of SARS, only 38 cases, and there have been no deaths, and that's because it's believed it came to the United States later and the United States could learn how to control the spread, especially at hospitals, because it often spreads very quickly in hospitals.
HARRIS: So we may have benefited here, because it happened someplace else earlier, and other folks have had more problems with it. Right, absolutely. But let me ask you this, how do you prevent the spread of it if you don't know exactly what the symptoms are? Is there any one key symptom that if you had it, if you experienced it, you would know for sure, that's what you have.
COHEN: Yes, there are certain things that you have to look out for. And let's go through the symptoms of SARS. First of all, the symptoms are a fever of over 100.4 degrees, chills, headache and body aches, respiratory difficulties and cough.
Now I can hear people saying, gosh, I get that, you know, once or twice a year, I mean, that sounds like the flu. However, you will know that it could be SARS if you have traveled to one of the countries where SARS is rampant -- for example, China, or Hong Kong or Vietnam -- and also if you've been in contact with someone who has done that kind of travel. If you do not have one of those two things, then you probably do not have SARS.
HARRIS: Once you get to that point that that is what it is and it has been identified, how do you then prevent the spread of it ?
COHEN: Well, there are certain things that you can do to prevent the spread. First of all, let's talk about how SARS is spread in the first place. It spreads from coughs or sneezes. If I were to cough on Leon right now, and I had SARS, he could probably get it from me from one of those droplets, and possibly from contaminated objects. If I had SARS and I coughed in my hand and my had touched the table, and then Leon touched that same spot, he might possibly be able to get it from me.
Let's talk a little bit about preventing SARS. When someone is diagnosed with having SARS, those patients should stay at home. And that's been a problem in some places, like in Canada, when people who are sick and being told to stay at home, they're not staying home, and that's obviously a huge problem. The patient should wear a mask, and household members should follow strict hygiene recommendations. For example, frequent hand washing, wearing a mask, particularly if the sick person, for whatever reason, is unable to wear a mask.
HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it, as always.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 22, 2003 - 10:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: SARS has claimed more victims. China is reporting 157 more confirmed cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. That's the disease that has alarmed health officials with its swift spread. These numbers in China continuing to grow, even after increased numbers yesterday.
Our medical news correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here with a closer look AT what health officials know about SARS right now and the outbreak.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is incredible. It really has...
HARRIS: It's got to be kind of scary to see these numbers in China keep growing by the hundreds each day.
COHEN: But it's important to remember that it's growing not because hundreds more necessarily are getting it every day, but because China, health officials believe, withheld some numbers, and then sort of dumped them all at one time. So that's an important thing to remember.
But let's talk about what we know about SARS. What we know about SARS at this point, is that it is caused by a strain of the corona virus, and that this particular strain has never been seen before. You can see it right there. There's the virus. It's never been seen before in animals or human beings, and that it makes this particularly difficult to deal with because they've never been faced with this particular virus before. We also know it has a 3 percent to 4 percent death rate. Obviously, no death is a good thing. But that is a relatively low death rate, compared to some other respiratory diseases, like pneumonia and flu.
We also know, and this is from the World Health Organization. The WHO says if this disease is managed well, it will not spread, or will not spread very far. What they means is that if someone is found to have the disease, and if that person is immediately isolated and others around him are quarantined, if necessary, it will not spread.
Now, unfortunately, that has not been the case in parts of Canada. Canada has seen this disease grow and grow. The Numbers in Canada are very disturbing, 132 cases and 12 deaths, and it's believed that's because Canada saw this disease very early on, they didn't know what they were facing, and so didn't always put the precautions that we now know are necessary.
In the United States, that has not been the case. In the United States only 38 probable cases of SARS, only 38 cases, and there have been no deaths, and that's because it's believed it came to the United States later and the United States could learn how to control the spread, especially at hospitals, because it often spreads very quickly in hospitals.
HARRIS: So we may have benefited here, because it happened someplace else earlier, and other folks have had more problems with it. Right, absolutely. But let me ask you this, how do you prevent the spread of it if you don't know exactly what the symptoms are? Is there any one key symptom that if you had it, if you experienced it, you would know for sure, that's what you have.
COHEN: Yes, there are certain things that you have to look out for. And let's go through the symptoms of SARS. First of all, the symptoms are a fever of over 100.4 degrees, chills, headache and body aches, respiratory difficulties and cough.
Now I can hear people saying, gosh, I get that, you know, once or twice a year, I mean, that sounds like the flu. However, you will know that it could be SARS if you have traveled to one of the countries where SARS is rampant -- for example, China, or Hong Kong or Vietnam -- and also if you've been in contact with someone who has done that kind of travel. If you do not have one of those two things, then you probably do not have SARS.
HARRIS: Once you get to that point that that is what it is and it has been identified, how do you then prevent the spread of it ?
COHEN: Well, there are certain things that you can do to prevent the spread. First of all, let's talk about how SARS is spread in the first place. It spreads from coughs or sneezes. If I were to cough on Leon right now, and I had SARS, he could probably get it from me from one of those droplets, and possibly from contaminated objects. If I had SARS and I coughed in my hand and my had touched the table, and then Leon touched that same spot, he might possibly be able to get it from me.
Let's talk a little bit about preventing SARS. When someone is diagnosed with having SARS, those patients should stay at home. And that's been a problem in some places, like in Canada, when people who are sick and being told to stay at home, they're not staying home, and that's obviously a huge problem. The patient should wear a mask, and household members should follow strict hygiene recommendations. For example, frequent hand washing, wearing a mask, particularly if the sick person, for whatever reason, is unable to wear a mask.
HARRIS: All right, good deal. Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it, as always.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
