Health officials were still struggling on Thursday to discover an unknown virus that claimed 16 lives at a Toronto retirement home in recent weeks, according to officials.
”We’re still trying to find the source of the outbreak,” said a spokesperson for the Toronto Public Health Authority. ”And, we may never know. In almost half of such cases the actual strain is never identified.”
The mysterious respiratory ailment has infected 70 residents, 12 employees and two visitors to the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged since it was first detected September 25.
Starting on Friday, four people died, then six, then 10, then 16 by Wednesday in an alarming outbreak reminiscent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak two years ago that killed 44 people in Canada’s biggest city. But Sars has been ruled out in this case.
”This is not Sars,” Toronto’s medical health officer David McKeown told reporters on Wednesday.
”The outbreak is confined to residents and staff and people closely associated with this one facility, so it’s not a general public health risk.”
The last six victims whose deaths were announced on Wednesday were not new cases and each had underlying medical conditions, McKeown said in a statement. They were three men and three women aged 75 to 96.
”When it spreads in a closed population like in a home for the aged, many with other medical problems, they can’t defend themselves, their immune systems aren’t as strong, that’s why it takes such a toll,” an official told Agence France Presse.
As of Wednesday afternoon, no new cases were reported in the previous 24 hours, according to the health authority, but the site remains closed to new admissions and visitors.
The majority of cases are improving but some have worsened as the illness takes its course, officials said in a statement.
”We are confident this outbreak is under control,” McKeown said.
Still, Toronto city hall and provincial government officials said more needed to be done, fearing for the ”reputation of Toronto” if this mystery illness explodes like Sars did in 2003.
The Sars outbreak afflicted 151 people from February 23 to July 2, 2003. The fallout from fears around the world cost the local economy close to $1-billion, officials said.
According to the World Health Organisation, there have been over 8 000 cases of Sars, including 774 deaths.
In all, this latest unknown flu outbreak, whose symptoms include fever, a loss of appetite and nausea, has affected 70 residents, 13 employees and five visitors to Seven Oaks Home for the Aged.
Thirty-eight people, including two staff and two visitors, remain in hospital.
Meanwhile, several labs are conducting autopsies and examining specimens from live patients, officials said. – AFP
