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"The experience in Hong Kong has been a larger number of younger adults getting very severe illness, sometimes fatal," Simor told a news conference. "We are beginning to see that here in Toronto as well."
Most of Canada's roughly 300 probable and suspected cases of SARS are in the Toronto area. The figure has been climbing for the past few weeks, and officials have warned that the number could soar quickly if efforts to contain the illness fail.
"We look back at Hong Kong, four or five weeks ago, and they had the numbers we have today – a couple of hundred," said Dr. Donald Low, the chief microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Dr. Andrew Simor |
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Dr. Donald Low |
"I hope that three or four weeks from now, we don't have the numbers that are in Hong Kong. But there sure is the potential."
SARS claimed a 14th victim on the weekend, officials announced Saturday. A 99-year-old man died in the Toronto area the day before. Officials also stopped accepting new patients at the country's largest trauma unit, Sunnybrook hospital, after at least four health-care workers showed signs of SARS. The same health centre also closed some other wards, including its intensive care department.
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SARS targets younger victims, officials worried
Last Updated Sun, 20 Apr 2003 0:00:46
TORONTO - As the number of probable SARS cases rose in Canada's largest city, doctors warned Saturday that frail people are not the only ones at risk.
Officials expressed concern that more young and otherwise healthy people are contracting the illness, and that some are now in critical condition.
It's an alarming trend that's already been noticed in parts of Asia, said Dr. Andrew Simor, the head of microbiology at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre.
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