Toronto doctor dies of SARS - 3rd Cdn health care worker to die of disease Published in Canoe - Indexed on Aug 14, 2003 Relevance: TORONTO (CP) - A dedicated and respected doctor who was ill with SARS for four months died Wednesday, becoming the first physician to succumb to the disease in Canada. Dr. Nestor Yanga, 54, was the second victim of severe acute respiratory syndrome this week and 44th overall in Ontario. He was a general practitioner at the Lapsley Family Doctors Clinic in the northeast section of the city, not far from Scarborough Grace Hospital and the epicentre of the first SARS outbreak. Dr. Larry Erlick, president of the Ontario Medical Association, said Yanga was "a dedicated physician, well-respected, well-liked - a very gentle man, hard-working.
The first case of SARS infection was reported in Hanoi on 26 February: a man was admitted to hospital with symptoms of high fever, dry cough, myalgia (muscle soreness) and sore throat. Over the next four days he developed increasing breathing difficulties, severe thrombocytopenia (low platelet count which means his blood was not able to clot properly) and severe breathing difficulties requiring ventilator support. He died of SARS pneumonia. Today we know the truth which is that SARS infection has been around for months, hidden away in China. By early April 2003, many countries were already deeply alarmed by cases in their hospitals of a highly infectious viral infection causing severe atypical pneumonia, striking suddenly, failing to respond to normal treatment and causing many sick people to die. The streets of Hong Kong were filled with people wearing surgical masks, or holding pieces of cotton over their faces Evidence was growing in both Hong Kong and mainland China that suggested SARS virus not only spreads via face to face contact, or to people nearby, but also can jump rapidly from person to person, home to home in other ways - probably through contaminated objects being touched by hands which then touch the nose, or possibly through common sewage or water supplies. The virus has been detected not only in respiratory droplets but also in faeces and urine. The virus remains infectious in both faeces and urine for at least 24-48 hours - up to 4 days in diarrhoea. Singapore closed all schools and threatened huge fines on anyone in contact with an SARS sufferer if they left their homes. A day later Hong Kong also told a million students and children to stay at home, with new SARS outbreak rates running at around 65-80 a day. And almost all of these people needed urgent hospital admission, many in intensive care on life-support systems with full-blown SARS pneumonia. The US had seen 37 cases of SARS infection by mid April with numbers rising rapidly. Almost all had become infected in other nations. Urgent steps were being taken to repatriate foreign office staff from embassies and government consulates in Hong Kong, and Guangzhou.
Toronto doctor dies of SARS - 3rd Cdn health care worker to die of disease Published in Canoe - Indexed on Aug 14, 2003 Relevance: TORONTO (CP) - A dedicated and respected doctor who was ill with SARS for four months died Wednesday, becoming the first physician to succumb to the disease in Canada. Dr. Nestor Yanga, 54, was the second victim of severe acute respiratory syndrome this week and 44th overall in Ontario. He was a general practitioner at the Lapsley Family Doctors Clinic in the northeast section of the city, not far from Scarborough Grace Hospital and the epicentre of the first SARS outbreak. Dr. Larry Erlick, president of the Ontario Medical Association, said Yanga was "a dedicated physician, well-respected, well-liked - a very gentle man, hard-working.
While outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) continue to abate in most places, it is back in Toronto, and most experts agree that SARS is here to stay. Despite decreases in the number of new case reports in mainland China, Hong Kong, and other former disease epicenters, scientists are calling for continued vigilance and caution, as much remains to be known about the epidemiology and natural history of the disease. Medscape's editors will continue to keep you informed with this collection of reports, news, interviews, and key resources on the unfolding SARS epidemic. 8,458 worldwide 807 deaths