County of Orange
Health Care Agency

Juliette A. Poulson, RN, MN
Director

Mark B. Horton, MD, MSPH
Deputy Agency Director/Health Officer
Public Health Services

Mailing Address:
405 W. 5th Street
Santa Ana, Ca 92701

E-Mail: PublicInfo@ochca.com
 

For Immediate Release
April 2, 2003

Contact: Pat Markley
(714) 834-2178

(Santa Ana) – Orange County Health Care Agency officials have received reports of possible cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an atypical respiratory illness recently reported in Asia, North America and Europe. After initial review, two of these cases are being reported to the California Department of Health Services as suspected SARS cases. Both individuals had a recent history of travel to China. Neither of the patients was admitted to the hospital for care and both are now recovering at home.

"We are working closely with the providers caring for the patients to ensure that all necessary precautions are taken to prevent the spread of the illness,” said Mark Horton, M.D., Orange County Health Officer. “Anyone in close contact with the patients will be urged to monitor their health and promptly report any symptoms that could indicate the presence of SARS.”

Dr. Horton noted that the mere presence of symptoms like fever or cough should not be a cause of heightened concern for the general public, because respiratory illnesses are very common at this time of the year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has established criteria that must be met for an illness to be classified as SARS (CDC case definition 3/29/03). This includes a respiratory illness of unknown cause with onset since February 1, 2003, and the following criteria:

• Measured temperature of 100.5°F or higher (>38° C) AND

• One or more clinical findings of respiratory illness (e.g. cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, hypoxia, or radiographic findings of either pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome) AND

• Travel within 10 days of onset of symptoms to an area with documented or suspected community transmission of SARS, such as the Peoples' Republic of China (i.e., mainland China and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region); Hanoi, Vietnam; and Singapore OR

• Close contact within 10 days of onset of symptoms with either a person with a respiratory illness who traveled to a SARS area or a person known to be a suspect SARS case. Close contact is defined as having cared for, having lived with, or having direct contact with respiratory secretions and/or body fluids of a patient known to be suspect SARS case.

Health officials advise that, in the event a traveler experiences this combination of symptoms and has traveled to the identified countries in the last 10 days, they should seek medical attention and inform the health care staff about their recent travel. Physicians should report any suspected case of SARS in a person who has recently traveled to areas with documented or suspected community transmission of SARS or who has had close contact with someone who has recently traveled to these locations by calling Orange County Public Health Epidemiology at (714) 834-8180. Each report will be carefully compared to the CDC’s case definition and suspected cases will be referred to the California Department of Health Services.  Due to the non-specific nature of the case criteria and the frequency of respiratory symptoms, the number of suspected cases in Orange County may fluctuate, at least until such time as there is a confirmatory laboratory test.

The CDC has expanded its travel advisory for SARS to include all of mainland China, as well as Hanoi, Vietnam and Singapore. People planning non-essential travel to mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Hanoi, Vietnam may wish to postpone their trips until further notice. For more information about SARS, please see the CDC and World Health Organization Web sites at www.cdc.gov  and www.who.int.

Through the end of March, CDC reported a total of 72 suspected SARS cases under investigation in the United States, including 16 in California. No deaths from SARS have been reported in the United States.

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