Concern about spread of SARS growing at CDC

Last Updated: 2003-04-10 17:00:17 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Amid increasing concerns over the worldwide spread of the deadly respiratory infection SARS, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are stepping up efforts to avert any wide community spread of the illness in the U.S.

During a SARS update Thursday, CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding said that the agency is "very concerned" about new reports of suspected SARS cases that may have arisen from community transmission in Florida.

One situation in particular involves a person who traveled to Asia, developed an illness consistent with SARS and then went to work while in the very early stages of the illness. According to the Florida Health Department, an individual in that workplace was later identified as having respiratory symptoms suggestive of SARS.

"This individual is now on the list of suspected SARS cases, but it is far too early to indicate whether this individual has SARS, and there is no indication of spread beyond that point," Gerberding said.

She also said that, due to increased concern about community spread, the CDC is "taking steps to enhance guidance for contacts of SARS patients."

By late Thursday, the CDC expects to post on its Web site "specific information for schools and for workplaces to ensure that, should an individual with SARS inadvertently go to the school or the workplace, that we have appropriate steps in place to manage those events."

Gerberding also said that the CDC is working with the Food and Drug Administration and the blood banking industry to develop some "sensible guidance" about deferring donation from people who have traveled to outbreak areas and could be in the incubation period.

"There is no evidence that SARS is a blood-borne infection," Gerberding emphasized. "But anytime there is a new viral infection or patients are as sick as these patients are, we have to be concerned about at least a temporary period of time where the virus could be in the blood."

She stressed that this is "an extra precaution" and the CDC is not initiating "look-back" investigations on people who have donated blood and may have traveled to outbreak areas.

As of Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) is reporting 2,627 cases of SARS worldwide.

There are also 166 cases of suspected SARS from 30 U.S. states that are under active investigation. Sixty of these patients have required hospitalization, and four are currently hospitalized. There have been no deaths due to SARS in the U.S.

According to Gerberding, the CDC hotline has fielded more than 13,000 inquiries about SARS -- as many as 1,500 per day. In addition, she said a recently held international videoconference for clinicians that included officials with the WHO, the CDC, and clinicians in Asia involved in the SARS outbreak has been accessed by more than 40,000 professionals internationally.

"An emergency communication system has been activated at CDC to handle the calls," Gerberding said. The CDC has also contracted with organizations to provide public information, and "we constantly update them."