Four dead in new flu outbreak
From correspondents in Montreal
October 16, 2005
FOUR people have died in the past week of an unidentified respiratory infection in a retirement home in Victoria, on Canada's west coast, CBC television reported overnight.
Medical authorities believe the illness is some sort of flu, but they have not ruled out Legionnaires' disease, which killed 17 people in a retirement home in Toronto earlier this month.
A quarantine was placed on the Luther Court facility earlier this week but relatives were told Saturday they could remove their loved ones from the premises if they wish.
The respiratory ailment sparked citywide panic in Toronto before being identified as Legionnaires' disease. It infected 110 people and spread at an alarming rate reminiscent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak two years ago, which killed 44 in Canada's biggest city.
The bacteria that cause Legionnaires' disease are common in nature, and infections can be treated with antibiotics, though they often hit the elderly harder. People are exposed when they breathe air contaminated by droplets containing the organism.
The source of the Toronto infection still eludes investigators, who have checked plumbing and air conditioning systems at the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged and scanned a 1.5-kilometre radius around the building for possible sources of the bacteria.
October 16, 2005
FOUR people have died in the past week of an unidentified respiratory infection in a retirement home in Victoria, on Canada's west coast, CBC television reported overnight.
Medical authorities believe the illness is some sort of flu, but they have not ruled out Legionnaires' disease, which killed 17 people in a retirement home in Toronto earlier this month.
A quarantine was placed on the Luther Court facility earlier this week but relatives were told Saturday they could remove their loved ones from the premises if they wish.
The respiratory ailment sparked citywide panic in Toronto before being identified as Legionnaires' disease. It infected 110 people and spread at an alarming rate reminiscent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak two years ago, which killed 44 in Canada's biggest city.
The bacteria that cause Legionnaires' disease are common in nature, and infections can be treated with antibiotics, though they often hit the elderly harder. People are exposed when they breathe air contaminated by droplets containing the organism.
The source of the Toronto infection still eludes investigators, who have checked plumbing and air conditioning systems at the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged and scanned a 1.5-kilometre radius around the building for possible sources of the bacteria.
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