Bush Adds SARS To Quarantine List
Federal Officials Authorized To Quarantine If Necessary
Updated: 4:52 p.m. EST April 4, 2003
President George W. Bush signed executive order Friday adding SARS to list of diseases for which a person can be quarantined.
Overview
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How SARS WorksIn the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating 115 suspected SARS cases.
SARS patients in the United States are being isolated until they are no longer infectious, according to the CDC.
Quarantine, in contrast to isolation, applies to people who have been exposed to a disease and may be infected but are not yet ill.
States generally have authority to declare and enforce quarantine within their borders. This authority varies widely from state to state, depending on the laws of each state.
The CDC also is empowered to detain, medically examine, or conditionally release people suspected of carrying certain communicable diseases -- now including SARS.
To date, the CDC has not compelled quarantine or isolation of these individuals.
Health officials in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Ontario have implemented quarantine and isolation measures to limit the spread of SARS.
Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health told a House hearing Friday that scientists believe SARS could be caused by a previously unknown form of the corona virus, which is known to cause some common colds.
CDC officials said they are 90 percent sure this is the virus that is causing SARS. Fauci said the "evidence is mounting every day."
While the research is just now getting under way, officials say they are already trying to get the drug industry interested in producing a vaccine.
The SARS outbreak in Asia has prompted the U.S. Navy to stop port calls and other nonessential travel to southern China and Hong Kong.
And the State Department is sending some of its workers home from China. The authorization includes nonessential personnel and staff relatives from the embassy in Beijing and from five consular offices in China.
The CDC wants to track down 140 Americans who stayed at Hong Kong's Metropole Hotel on Feb. 21 or 22. A Chinese doctor staying there at that time died of the disease. The great majority of the Americans -- 118 -- were from California.
California has 32 suspected cases, and health officials say more than half those patients were recently in southeast Asia. Some others share homes with people who have been there lately.
But all the California SARS patients are expected to recover.
Doctors say they have a milder form of the disease, possibly because the germ weakens each time it's passed along. Climate and population density may be factors, too.
China Acknowledges 'Poor Coordination' With SARS
China has apologized for what it calls "poor coordination" in informing the public about cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The unexpected government acknowledgment came after days of international criticism.
SARS has killed more than 80 people and sickened more than 2,200 worldwide, more than half in China.
The Chinese government said Beijing wasn't able to muster its forces in helping to provide scientific publicity and information to the masses. The apology came at a news conference to which foreign news organizations weren't invited.
"The cooperation has improved dramatically," said Dr. James Hughes, director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thomspon spoke with Chinese Health Minister Zhang Wenkang for 45 minutes on the telephone Thursday night.
"The minister of health was very cooperative," Thompson said. "We're going to continue talking, and he wants to do more with the Department of Health and Human Services. It is important that we be as open and collaborative as possible in finding solutions to this difficult problem."
Thompson said Zhang was pleased that U.S. officials are so concerned about SARS. According to the minister, the epidemic peaked in China in late February and the Chinese government is working for "total control and effective management of this disease."
In Singapore, the health minister says 80 to 90 percent of people who are infected with the mystery illness will eventually recover.
Singapore's health minister said information on survival rates has been gathered since the outbreak was first reported. He also said 4 to 5 percent of victims will die no matter what treatment they get.
World Health Organization experts will spend the weekend in the a southern Chinese province of Guangdong, interviewing doctors and visiting the town where the first SARS case surfaced in November.
The team has received Chinese government data claiming that new cases of the illness were diminishing in the province. Chinese officials have said they are gaining control of the epidemic because of hospital procedures like wearing masks and goggles.
Overnight, officials in Canada confirmed the country's seventh death from SARS, a 57-year-old woman who also had other health problems.
New deaths were also reported in Singapore and Hong Kong. And health officials raised concerns of a new outbreak at Hong Kong's United Christian Hospital.
Copyright 2003 by NBC6.net. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.