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Canada's Concerns

Aired April 25, 2003 - 11:01   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: SARS, as the illness spreads, so does the fear. Health officials around the world are struggling to combat the SARS outbreak. We're also learning more about some of the cases right here in the U.S. First, let's take a look at the latest official numbers from the World Health Organization, 4,439 cases have been reported all around the world, 263 deaths have been lynched to SARS. The CDC is reporting 39 probable cases and 247 suspect cases in the U.S.
For more on the SARS outbreak in this country, let's check with our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

Elizabeth, good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, in this country, the story is that somebody said it should be called "MARS," not SARS because it's been so mild, mild acute respiratory syndrome, rather than severe acute respiratory syndrome, but the search is still on for a treatment for SARS.

As a matter of fact, just yesterday, a Us. Pharmaceutical company signed an agreement with the National Institutes of Health to try to come up with a vaccine. Now vaccines take time. Experts say it would take at least a year. In addition, they are trying to come up with an antiviral. You see the virus they're trying to get right there. That would be the strain of the corona virus that is apparently causing the SARS. Antivirals are apparently going to be a little bit tricky test, because most people recover from SARS without a problem. Approximately 94 percent of people who get SARS recover, so you never know, is it the antiviral that helped the person, or just because they recovered from SARS like most people?

Now in the United States, there was a case that certainly made people sit up and take notice, the case of a Pennsylvania man who went to Toronto for a religious retreat. SARS then broke out among members of that religious retreat, this man not knowing that he had been infected, traveled back to Pennsylvania, ended up in a hospital in Bethlehem, and he had close contact with six health care workers and four family members before they realized had he SARS. Those workers took a voluntary furlough so they were not at the hospital. The time has passed, the incubation period has passed when they would have expected to have seen these people get sick, and they didn't, so that is good news but certainly made people think there might be unprotected health care workers out there because you don't note someone has SARS until.

KAGAN: On down the line a little bit. What I've found interesting is that even though there has been SARS in the United States, there has been no deaths. And do they think that people are people getting treatment, they are getting it early? What do they attribute that, too?

COHEN: You know what, they're really not sure, they really don't know. We've asked the CDC, is this a different strain of SARS, and they've said, we really don't think it's a different strain. They're not sure. But it's such a low number. In other countries, where you that there are deaths, they just have a higher number of people who are getting infected. So in some ways, it's just a statistical game, but they really don't know why people here are having such mild cases.

KAGAN: Well, when you talk about strain, there was an interesting piece in "The New York Times" yesterday, the main lab Canada, in British Columbia, that's looking at this, they are finding different strains, and they are also finding that people who should test positive are testing negative and vice versa -- people who should be testing negative test positive.

COHEN: Well, it's interesting, the tests are a little bit tricky, because they are so young, and they test for antibodies. So let's say you that had SARS right now and I looked for antibodies in you.

KAGAN: I don't.

COHEN: I know. I should be careful what I say. But If you had SARS and you were infected two days ago, you wouldn't have any antibodies in your body yet, so you would test negative, and you would have to wait until further on down the line.

There has been a lot of talk about mutations, and I think that's important, so I think we need to talk about that. Some Chinese health officials have said they've seen different mutations of SARS, that people in different areas of the country have different strains, have genetic qualities with each of the viruses. But it's important to remember with viruses, viruses mutate. That's what they do, they like to mutate, and just because they've mutated doesn't necessarily mean anything. We spoke to several infectious disease experts in this country, and they've said basically so what if the virus has mutated? It doesn't mean it's not going to respond to treatment any different than this does, it doesn't mean that it's going to be any more virulent. It doesn't mean anything. It just means that some of the genetic components have changed.

So the people we talked to said this is not necessarily a big deal, might be, but probably not.

KAGAN: We're going to excuse you from the table right now, but you're coming back later in the hour to talk about prevention and how people can keep from getting it.

COHEN: How scared should you be.

KAGAN: Not very.

COHEN: Probably not very.

KAGAN: OK, we look forward to seeing you in just a bit.

More now on SARS, though. The World Health Organization is not backing off its advisory, urging people to avoid unnecessary travel to Toronto because of SARS; 140 probably cases have been reported in Canada, with 16 deaths blamed on the illness, but officials in Toronto say they are getting a bad rap.

Our Jason Carroll is breathing just fine in Toronto, and he joins us this morning from there.

Jason, hello.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Daryn.

As you walk through the city here, you don't see very many people at all. In fact, I haven't seen any people at all wearing masks. Just saw one person at the airport. You don't get the sense here that there's any sort of panic at all, but you do get the strong sense that there is a lot of anger, especially directed at the World Health Organization for issuing that travel advisory. One person who was especially angry is Toronto's mayor, Mel Lastman, who spoke about the economic impact of the SARS fear on the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEL LASTMAN, TORONTO, ONTARIO: We depend greatly on tourism -- we get 22 million tourists a year, and yes, our city is continuing, they're moving the way they always do, they're working, the malls are jammed, but the hotels aren't doing much business and the restaurants aren't. We need the tourists, and they're hurting us. And to wait three weeks is ridiculous when they haven't even been here in the first place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: We've been taking the pulse of people here in the community. Joining me right now, two day care workers, along with six babies to sort of give us their opinions what's been happening in the city.

I'm going to start here with you. Give us a sense of what you've been thinking, especially in terms of what the WHO decided to do by issuing that travel advisory.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they sort of blew it out of proportion. I mean, people are really nervous now about just traveling and everybody's wearing masks, and I think it's not really necessary for not everyone, you know, like I think people who are -- who have the weak immune system and the elderly might want to take extra precaution, but you know, it's a little blown out of proportion I believe.

CARROLL: Bridget, I'm going to move over to your friend here, Nicole.

Nicole, again, obviously, WHO has issued that travel advisory. You were pretty upset about that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, I think you know, there is really no need for it, as you can see, really nobody's wearing masks. A lot of people aren't scared by it. People are still going out and having fun and you know, Toronto's a really great city to enjoy.

So you know, they're taking the precautions that they are at the hospitals, which is great. So there's really no need to worry about it, and to say that people shouldn't come to Toronto, you know, when there are worse things going on, it just seems a little silly.

CARROLL: Two folks here with six babies. You feel as though it's been blown out of proportion. Want to thank you very much for joining us.

Earlier the mayor of Toronto spoke about three weeks. I want to talk a little bit about that. At the end of three weeks, the World Health Organization will sort of decide and make a decision as to whether or not this travel advisory should remain in effect, but as for now, there are no plans for the WHO to rescind its decision.

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 25, 2003 - 11:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: SARS, as the illness spreads, so does the fear. Health officials around the world are struggling to combat the SARS outbreak. We're also learning more about some of the cases right here in the U.S. First, let's take a look at the latest official numbers from the World Health Organization, 4,439 cases have been reported all around the world, 263 deaths have been lynched to SARS. The CDC is reporting 39 probable cases and 247 suspect cases in the U.S.
For more on the SARS outbreak in this country, let's check with our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.

Elizabeth, good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, in this country, the story is that somebody said it should be called "MARS," not SARS because it's been so mild, mild acute respiratory syndrome, rather than severe acute respiratory syndrome, but the search is still on for a treatment for SARS.

As a matter of fact, just yesterday, a Us. Pharmaceutical company signed an agreement with the National Institutes of Health to try to come up with a vaccine. Now vaccines take time. Experts say it would take at least a year. In addition, they are trying to come up with an antiviral. You see the virus they're trying to get right there. That would be the strain of the corona virus that is apparently causing the SARS. Antivirals are apparently going to be a little bit tricky test, because most people recover from SARS without a problem. Approximately 94 percent of people who get SARS recover, so you never know, is it the antiviral that helped the person, or just because they recovered from SARS like most people?

Now in the United States, there was a case that certainly made people sit up and take notice, the case of a Pennsylvania man who went to Toronto for a religious retreat. SARS then broke out among members of that religious retreat, this man not knowing that he had been infected, traveled back to Pennsylvania, ended up in a hospital in Bethlehem, and he had close contact with six health care workers and four family members before they realized had he SARS. Those workers took a voluntary furlough so they were not at the hospital. The time has passed, the incubation period has passed when they would have expected to have seen these people get sick, and they didn't, so that is good news but certainly made people think there might be unprotected health care workers out there because you don't note someone has SARS until.

KAGAN: On down the line a little bit. What I've found interesting is that even though there has been SARS in the United States, there has been no deaths. And do they think that people are people getting treatment, they are getting it early? What do they attribute that, too?

COHEN: You know what, they're really not sure, they really don't know. We've asked the CDC, is this a different strain of SARS, and they've said, we really don't think it's a different strain. They're not sure. But it's such a low number. In other countries, where you that there are deaths, they just have a higher number of people who are getting infected. So in some ways, it's just a statistical game, but they really don't know why people here are having such mild cases.

KAGAN: Well, when you talk about strain, there was an interesting piece in "The New York Times" yesterday, the main lab Canada, in British Columbia, that's looking at this, they are finding different strains, and they are also finding that people who should test positive are testing negative and vice versa -- people who should be testing negative test positive.

COHEN: Well, it's interesting, the tests are a little bit tricky, because they are so young, and they test for antibodies. So let's say you that had SARS right now and I looked for antibodies in you.

KAGAN: I don't.

COHEN: I know. I should be careful what I say. But If you had SARS and you were infected two days ago, you wouldn't have any antibodies in your body yet, so you would test negative, and you would have to wait until further on down the line.

There has been a lot of talk about mutations, and I think that's important, so I think we need to talk about that. Some Chinese health officials have said they've seen different mutations of SARS, that people in different areas of the country have different strains, have genetic qualities with each of the viruses. But it's important to remember with viruses, viruses mutate. That's what they do, they like to mutate, and just because they've mutated doesn't necessarily mean anything. We spoke to several infectious disease experts in this country, and they've said basically so what if the virus has mutated? It doesn't mean it's not going to respond to treatment any different than this does, it doesn't mean that it's going to be any more virulent. It doesn't mean anything. It just means that some of the genetic components have changed.

So the people we talked to said this is not necessarily a big deal, might be, but probably not.

KAGAN: We're going to excuse you from the table right now, but you're coming back later in the hour to talk about prevention and how people can keep from getting it.

COHEN: How scared should you be.

KAGAN: Not very.

COHEN: Probably not very.

KAGAN: OK, we look forward to seeing you in just a bit.

More now on SARS, though. The World Health Organization is not backing off its advisory, urging people to avoid unnecessary travel to Toronto because of SARS; 140 probably cases have been reported in Canada, with 16 deaths blamed on the illness, but officials in Toronto say they are getting a bad rap.

Our Jason Carroll is breathing just fine in Toronto, and he joins us this morning from there.

Jason, hello.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Daryn.

As you walk through the city here, you don't see very many people at all. In fact, I haven't seen any people at all wearing masks. Just saw one person at the airport. You don't get the sense here that there's any sort of panic at all, but you do get the strong sense that there is a lot of anger, especially directed at the World Health Organization for issuing that travel advisory. One person who was especially angry is Toronto's mayor, Mel Lastman, who spoke about the economic impact of the SARS fear on the city.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEL LASTMAN, TORONTO, ONTARIO: We depend greatly on tourism -- we get 22 million tourists a year, and yes, our city is continuing, they're moving the way they always do, they're working, the malls are jammed, but the hotels aren't doing much business and the restaurants aren't. We need the tourists, and they're hurting us. And to wait three weeks is ridiculous when they haven't even been here in the first place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: We've been taking the pulse of people here in the community. Joining me right now, two day care workers, along with six babies to sort of give us their opinions what's been happening in the city.

I'm going to start here with you. Give us a sense of what you've been thinking, especially in terms of what the WHO decided to do by issuing that travel advisory.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they sort of blew it out of proportion. I mean, people are really nervous now about just traveling and everybody's wearing masks, and I think it's not really necessary for not everyone, you know, like I think people who are -- who have the weak immune system and the elderly might want to take extra precaution, but you know, it's a little blown out of proportion I believe.

CARROLL: Bridget, I'm going to move over to your friend here, Nicole.

Nicole, again, obviously, WHO has issued that travel advisory. You were pretty upset about that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, I think you know, there is really no need for it, as you can see, really nobody's wearing masks. A lot of people aren't scared by it. People are still going out and having fun and you know, Toronto's a really great city to enjoy.

So you know, they're taking the precautions that they are at the hospitals, which is great. So there's really no need to worry about it, and to say that people shouldn't come to Toronto, you know, when there are worse things going on, it just seems a little silly.

CARROLL: Two folks here with six babies. You feel as though it's been blown out of proportion. Want to thank you very much for joining us.

Earlier the mayor of Toronto spoke about three weeks. I want to talk a little bit about that. At the end of three weeks, the World Health Organization will sort of decide and make a decision as to whether or not this travel advisory should remain in effect, but as for now, there are no plans for the WHO to rescind its decision.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com