State braces State epidemiologist Paul Effler left for Atlanta yesterday to confer with federal and other states' health officials about a dangerous respiratory ailment believed to be brought into the country by travelers arriving from Asia.
for visitors from
Asia with SARS
Five unconfirmed viral samples
have been referred to the CDCBy Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.comSamples from five "suspect cases" in Hawaii have been sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which is in the process of developing a diagnostic test to identify severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.
"Everybody is geared up," said Dr. James Marzolf, of the Department of Health Communicable Disease Division. "We are taking it seriously."
He said one new initiative expected to be launched this week will be distribution of information cards to travelers arriving from Asia, advising them to seek medical care if they experience the symptoms of fever, coughing, shortness or breath or difficulty breathing within 10 days.
The SARS alert will be discussed tomorrow at a 9 a.m. meeting of the state House Committee on Health. Representatives of the state Health and Transportation departments and federal health officials will brief legislators at the public meeting in state Capitol Conference Room 329.
Gov. Linda Lingle was briefed yesterday by Health Director Chiyome Fukino as awareness was raised when two Oahu women were added to the suspect cases list here last week.
One woman was released yesterday from the hospital, and all five, including three earlier suspect cases on Kauai, are considered to have mild symptoms.
Marzolf said Hawaii officials also had inquiries yesterday after news reports about California health officials boarding a flight from Tokyo when it arrived in San Jose. Doctors cleared five passengers who were examined because of respiratory symptoms. The incident highlighted fears surrounding the mystery ailment that has led officials in China to institute quarantine measures.
There are more than 1,600 suspected cases worldwide, with 78 deaths attributed to SARS. The CDC reported 70 suspected cases in the United States. The cause of the illness has not been determined, but CDC officials believe it comes from a new form of coronavirus, the cause of about one-fifth of all colds.
Marzolf said the Communicable Disease Division confers daily with the U.S. Public Health Service staff of two people at Honolulu Airport. Since the alert began, "we have traced down some flights ... but we haven't even come up with any potential cases," he said.
The Health Department also surveys 45 island hospitals and clinics daily for new severe respiratory cases.
The survey is not a new initiative, he said. "With the outbreak of flu in Southeast Asia last fall, we had already alerted our health provider community to be looking for respiratory illness and fever.
"We will be issuing more information to the public to tell them what their role is," Marzolf said. "There is no specific precaution for the public at this point, other than to postpone travel to Hong Kong and other parts of China."
He added, "All the basic cases in the U.S. so far are turning out to be mild."
Of 70 suspected U.S. cases, only one was severe enough to be on a respirator. In the United States there are no demonstrated transmissions at public gatherings or on various modes of transportation.
Without the science yet to positively confirm the cause of the ailment, doctors work by a process of elimination, Marzolf said. For instance, a case investigated here last week proved to be bacterial pneumonia, he said.
"With all the travel between Hawaii and Asia, we only have the five (suspect) cases," said Marzolf. "The two who were hospitalized have been released. All were mild cases."
The CDC criteria for suspect cases include a fever higher than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, respiratory symptoms of coughing, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, recent travel to areas where SARS has been documented or close contact with a person diagnosed with the illness.
State Health Department Centers for Disease Control and Prevention