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Steps Being Taken on Several Fronts to try to Stop Spread of SARS in United States
Aired April 25, 2003 - 14:17 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: At last count there were 39 probable cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in the United States, SARS we're calling it, and 208 cases listed as "suspect." No SARS deaths reported in the United States so far, however.
Nevertheless, steps are being taken on several fronts to try to stop the spread of SARS in the United States.
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now with some details in all that. We can't let our guard down, can we -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's exactly what the Centers for Disease Control is saying.
And as part of not letting that guard down, Miles, they're going to be instituting something new at the U.S.-Canadian border starting, they hope, this weekend.
They plan on giving travelers a yellow SARS card, that's what it's come to be called, you can see it right there, a health alert notice. It's written in several languages, and it says: "You may have been exposed to SARS while you were traveling. If you get symptoms like a cough and a fever, you need to call your doctor."
And previously they had been just giving it to people who were flying in from SARS countries, but now at many of the border crossings, they'll be handing those out too.
What the CDC is trying to avoid is a situation such as what happened in Pennsylvanian recently. A man from Pennsylvanian was in Toronto for a religious retreat in late March. He then came back home to Pennsylvanian, got sick, went to a hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to another one as well, and it took them a while to figure out he had SARS. And so what happened was that six healthcare workers had unprotected close contact with him and they voluntarily took a furlough so that they wouldn't go back to work.
And in addition, this many had unprotected close contact with four family members. None of these people, neither the healthcare workers nor the family members, actually got SARS and the incubation period has passed, so they definitely are breathing a sigh of relief. But that definitely could have been a close call, and that's the situation that they definitely want to avoid. Now, you will notice that I said earlier that people who suspect that they might have SARS because of their travel should call their doctor, the CDC does not want people just showing up at their doctor's office first. They want people to call so that the correct inspection control measures can be taken -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Elizabeth, what about some sort of treatment. This is a difficult virus and viruses don't treat well easily, do they?
COHEN: No, they don't, and they are definitely working on that. It would be probably far easier if this were a bacteria. They're trying to come up with a vaccine and a U.S. pharmaceutical company has signed a contract with the National Institute of Health to try to come up with one.
They're also testing a variety of antiviral medications. This is a little bit tricky though, because most people recover from SARS. About 94 percent recover just fine. You'll notice in the United States there have been no deaths. And so the question is, if people recover just fine from this disease in most cases, do you really want to give them an antiviral, because some of these antivirals are very toxic -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: And something new in store this weekend we're told?
COHEN: That's right, and those are the SARS cards. Those are the cards that they're going to be giving people at the U.S.-Canadian border crossings, or at least at some of them, telling them if you have those symptoms, go call your doctor.
O'BRIEN: All right, we'll be looking for that as we're traveling. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much -- appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
of SARS in United States>
Aired April 25, 2003 - 14:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: At last count there were 39 probable cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in the United States, SARS we're calling it, and 208 cases listed as "suspect." No SARS deaths reported in the United States so far, however.
Nevertheless, steps are being taken on several fronts to try to stop the spread of SARS in the United States.
Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joining us now with some details in all that. We can't let our guard down, can we -- Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. That's exactly what the Centers for Disease Control is saying.
And as part of not letting that guard down, Miles, they're going to be instituting something new at the U.S.-Canadian border starting, they hope, this weekend.
They plan on giving travelers a yellow SARS card, that's what it's come to be called, you can see it right there, a health alert notice. It's written in several languages, and it says: "You may have been exposed to SARS while you were traveling. If you get symptoms like a cough and a fever, you need to call your doctor."
And previously they had been just giving it to people who were flying in from SARS countries, but now at many of the border crossings, they'll be handing those out too.
What the CDC is trying to avoid is a situation such as what happened in Pennsylvanian recently. A man from Pennsylvanian was in Toronto for a religious retreat in late March. He then came back home to Pennsylvanian, got sick, went to a hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to another one as well, and it took them a while to figure out he had SARS. And so what happened was that six healthcare workers had unprotected close contact with him and they voluntarily took a furlough so that they wouldn't go back to work.
And in addition, this many had unprotected close contact with four family members. None of these people, neither the healthcare workers nor the family members, actually got SARS and the incubation period has passed, so they definitely are breathing a sigh of relief. But that definitely could have been a close call, and that's the situation that they definitely want to avoid. Now, you will notice that I said earlier that people who suspect that they might have SARS because of their travel should call their doctor, the CDC does not want people just showing up at their doctor's office first. They want people to call so that the correct inspection control measures can be taken -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Elizabeth, what about some sort of treatment. This is a difficult virus and viruses don't treat well easily, do they?
COHEN: No, they don't, and they are definitely working on that. It would be probably far easier if this were a bacteria. They're trying to come up with a vaccine and a U.S. pharmaceutical company has signed a contract with the National Institute of Health to try to come up with one.
They're also testing a variety of antiviral medications. This is a little bit tricky though, because most people recover from SARS. About 94 percent recover just fine. You'll notice in the United States there have been no deaths. And so the question is, if people recover just fine from this disease in most cases, do you really want to give them an antiviral, because some of these antivirals are very toxic -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: And something new in store this weekend we're told?
COHEN: That's right, and those are the SARS cards. Those are the cards that they're going to be giving people at the U.S.-Canadian border crossings, or at least at some of them, telling them if you have those symptoms, go call your doctor.
O'BRIEN: All right, we'll be looking for that as we're traveling. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much -- appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
of SARS in United States>
