|
TORONTO - The Local
View
I am writing to keep you up-to-date
about the situation in Toronto. Overall, the news is good. I will
also use this opportunity to let you know how health care professionals
in Toronto are being assessed for the risk of disease.
In last week’s newsletter I indicated that the second
SARS outbreak was waning. This trend has continued. At the beginning of
this week, the total number of SARS cases in Toronto was down 37, down
from over 70, with no new cases reported this week. All 37 of these
people are in SARS units in hospitals. Also, as previously reported,
there have not been
any infections transmitted in the community.
For those of you that read the last newsletter, three alarm bells went off last week. All ended with relatively happy endings. The first had to do with 15 patients at a single dialysis clinic at the Lakeridge Health facility east of Toronto. These people had all come down with a respiratory illness within 1-2 days of one another. SARS was feared. This week, testing on these people is complete, and now that testing is complete, we know none of these people had SARS, or are diagnosed with SARS. The second concern was a medical student that was exposed to SARS at North York General Hospital at the beginning of the 2nd outbreak. The student subsequently entered an obstetrics ward at another hospital prior to becoming ill himself. Although the student became ill, fortunately, this student infected no one else. Third, I reported that a person from North Carolina visiting a relative at Baycrest Hospital became ill with SARS. On his return home, there was concern he may have infected others in North Carolina. The latter turned out not to be the case; there was no further transmission. With respect to the risk of working in different health care environments in Toronto, the following is a brief overview of the situation. The highest risk is for workers in the SARS units in hospitals. Access to these sites is highly restricted, and a very high level of precautions are taken by everyone. Next in risk are the regular intensive care units and emergency departments. While there are no known SARS cases in these areas, there is a risk of an unknowing exposure, so there is a high level precaution taken in these areas too (goggles, shields, tight masks, gowns, gloves). Next are the standard patient
areas, then finally are the “ambulatory areas”, such as
hallways, and private offices (that have no patients).
Regardless of where one works, everyone fills out a entry
questionnaire every day. This screening form queries the person’s
health, the areas worked, and their contacts. The person is denied entry
to the hospital, and/or referred to an occupational health expert, if
any of the following are answered with a “yes”: Have you had unprotected
contact with a person with SARS in the last 10 days? Have you worked in
a SARS unit in the last 10 days? Are you experiencing ANY of these
symptoms - muscle aches, malaise, severe headache, persistent cough,
shortness of breath, or fever? Those of us health care workers that are
planning to attend the ISMRM are from one of four groups: scientists,
students, radiologists and MRI technologists. I have surveyed
representatives of each of these groups this week, asking if they would
all be willing to screen themselves everyday before entering any ISMRM
venue. Their answer was a unanimous YES. All indicated that they all
want to do whatever they can to allay ISMRM attendee’s anxieties about
attending the ISMRM in Toronto. Also, I want to further inform you that
Toronto scientists and students have had virtually no patient contact of
any type for over three months. And, to the best of my knowledge, none
of the radiologists or MRI technologists in Toronto have had any contact
with SARS patients either.
It is my continued opinion, based on current scientific evidence, there is no risk on contracting SARS on the streets, hotels, restaurants of Toronto. The risk of transmission is entirely in hospitals, and even there, the risk is very low. Walter Kucharczyk, MD, FRCP(C)
|