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American Morning

SARS in Canada

Aired May 29, 2003 - 07:07   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR:
North of the border two more people have died this week in Toronto from SARS. It's killed 29 people in Canada, and more than 5,000 people now under quarantine. Health officials thought they had that outbreak under control, but one undetected case set off a whole new wave of infections.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been looking into it. He's with us live here in New York to talk more about it.

Good to see you. What are they saying in Canada right now?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's interesting. They thought it was over. For two weeks they had no new cases, and they thought that -- all of the quarantines and the isolations, all of that had been lifted. But I think this is evidence that this is a virus that is not going to give any slack.

Since you and I have been talking about it, we've been talking about the fact that SARS is probably here to stay now. It's probably a fabric -- part of the fabric of our health care.

This is what the chief medical officer of Ontario had to say:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. COLIN D'CUNHA, ONTARIO CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: As long as there is SARS activity somewhere in the world and as long as the contacts are not isolated, the potential exists for SARS to continue to spread, which is exactly why here in Ontario, Canada, we will throw, once again, everything we have at it to control and contain the disease.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: In the meantime, 5,100 people now quarantined. It's a little confusing, because at the same time you have the prime minister saying it's safe, absolutely not dangerous at all, the travel to Toronto. So, you can see the mixed messages here.

Two more people, as you said, are dead. The numbers are certainly continuing to increase over there.

HEMMER: So, at one school we've got about 2,000 students quarantined because one student now has this suspected case of SARS. But he went to school for two days without detection. How is that possible?

GUPTA: Well, I think that this is part of the problem here is the changing definition of what a probable suspected case is. You have this student who is linked to a health care worker, had symptoms of SARS, which means what, really? Fever, cough. It could be completely without symptoms, except for the fever, you know. So, I think that's possibly how that could have happened.

HEMMER: What does it tell you about the killing rate right now? One hundred fifty cases in Canada, 29 deaths so far.

GUPTA: That is a high killing rate, there is no question about it. The numbers that you'll still hear for around the world are still going to hover closer to 8 to 10 percent, the numbers there, as you mentioned.

Bill, they also talk about probable versus suspect cases, and that definition is changing as well.

HEMMER: Yes, and when you go to a changing definition like we have seen, what does it tell you as a doctor looking in about the difficulties in trying to nail this thing down?

GUPTA: It's really interesting. You can just travel across the border and get a slightly different definition of what SARS really is, and I think that's part of the problem. In Canada now, they talk about the fact that not only do you have to have an x-ray diagnosis of pneumonia, a fever of 100.4 and a dry cough, which are the symptoms that people have been talking about so much, but in Canada they say you actually have to have worsening symptoms. You can't just have those symptoms, but the symptoms have to gradually be worsening.

The World Health Organization says, you know, that's too strict a definition, broaden the definition. And if they do, the numbers are going to increase even more. So, that's why you're starting to see all of these variable numbers, all of these variable cases and changing definitions.

HEMMER: We'll talk to a minister of health from Canada next hour here, and then we'll talk to you a bit later, too.

GUPTA: All right.

HEMMER: Sanjay, good to see you.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

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 May 29, 2003 - 07:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR:
North of the border two more people have died this week in Toronto from SARS. It's killed 29 people in Canada, and more than 5,000 people now under quarantine. Health officials thought they had that outbreak under control, but one undetected case set off a whole new wave of infections.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been looking into it. He's with us live here in New York to talk more about it.

Good to see you. What are they saying in Canada right now?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's interesting. They thought it was over. For two weeks they had no new cases, and they thought that -- all of the quarantines and the isolations, all of that had been lifted. But I think this is evidence that this is a virus that is not going to give any slack.

Since you and I have been talking about it, we've been talking about the fact that SARS is probably here to stay now. It's probably a fabric -- part of the fabric of our health care.

This is what the chief medical officer of Ontario had to say:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. COLIN D'CUNHA, ONTARIO CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: As long as there is SARS activity somewhere in the world and as long as the contacts are not isolated, the potential exists for SARS to continue to spread, which is exactly why here in Ontario, Canada, we will throw, once again, everything we have at it to control and contain the disease.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: In the meantime, 5,100 people now quarantined. It's a little confusing, because at the same time you have the prime minister saying it's safe, absolutely not dangerous at all, the travel to Toronto. So, you can see the mixed messages here.

Two more people, as you said, are dead. The numbers are certainly continuing to increase over there.

HEMMER: So, at one school we've got about 2,000 students quarantined because one student now has this suspected case of SARS. But he went to school for two days without detection. How is that possible?

GUPTA: Well, I think that this is part of the problem here is the changing definition of what a probable suspected case is. You have this student who is linked to a health care worker, had symptoms of SARS, which means what, really? Fever, cough. It could be completely without symptoms, except for the fever, you know. So, I think that's possibly how that could have happened.

HEMMER: What does it tell you about the killing rate right now? One hundred fifty cases in Canada, 29 deaths so far.

GUPTA: That is a high killing rate, there is no question about it. The numbers that you'll still hear for around the world are still going to hover closer to 8 to 10 percent, the numbers there, as you mentioned.

Bill, they also talk about probable versus suspect cases, and that definition is changing as well.

HEMMER: Yes, and when you go to a changing definition like we have seen, what does it tell you as a doctor looking in about the difficulties in trying to nail this thing down?

GUPTA: It's really interesting. You can just travel across the border and get a slightly different definition of what SARS really is, and I think that's part of the problem. In Canada now, they talk about the fact that not only do you have to have an x-ray diagnosis of pneumonia, a fever of 100.4 and a dry cough, which are the symptoms that people have been talking about so much, but in Canada they say you actually have to have worsening symptoms. You can't just have those symptoms, but the symptoms have to gradually be worsening.

The World Health Organization says, you know, that's too strict a definition, broaden the definition. And if they do, the numbers are going to increase even more. So, that's why you're starting to see all of these variable numbers, all of these variable cases and changing definitions.

HEMMER: We'll talk to a minister of health from Canada next hour here, and then we'll talk to you a bit later, too.

GUPTA: All right.

HEMMER: Sanjay, good to see you.

GUPTA: Good to see you.

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