SARS fears increase Asia trip cancellations

News of a deadly virus masquerading as a common flu bug is compelling worried patients around Puget Sound to visit emergency rooms and call their doctors, and scores of would-be travelers and school groups to cancel trips to Asia.

Hospitals and clinics are rushing plans to screen patients and employees, and orders for protective masks are soaring.

The as-yet-unidentified virus, which causes a disease dubbed SARS, for severe acute respiratory syndrome, is fatal in only a small percentage of cases. It has infected more than 1,800 patients in a dozen countries. At last count, 73 had died, most in Asian countries. "The public is quite worried," said Dr. Curtis Veal, chief of medicine at Swedish Medical Center.

One man with a raspy voice returning from Hong Kong last week, Veal said, was met by his wife at Sea-Tac Airport — wearing a face mask. The man, who didn't have the illness, visited Veal, a pulmonologist, the next day.

At Asia Travel in Chinatown International District, agent Monica Senganphan said about 80 percent of her customers who were booked on flights to Asia this month have canceled or postponed their trips.

Still, the fear factor in Puget Sound is a shadow of the cloud hovering over some other parts of the world.

In Hong Kong, more than 200 people were placed into isolation camps, and a hoax report that all 7 million residents would be isolated spurred panic food buying and a stock-market dive.

In Canada, Ontario authorities have restricted access to all hospitals, and the mayor of Victoria, B.C., voluntarily quarantined himself and his family after returning last weekend from a trip to China and Hong Kong.

Officials in San Jose, Calif., meanwhile, quarantined a plane from Tokyo for two hours after five people from Hong Kong reported pneumonialike symptoms. Three passengers were taken to a hospital but did not have the illness.

In the past few days, Puget Sound hospitals and clinics have begun screening patients — the "worried well," as well as "the worried sick." The main screening question: some variation of "Have you traveled recently to Asia, or have you been in close contact with someone who has traveled to Asia?"

"We're seeing quite a few patients that are concerned — some that have risk factors, some that don't," said Dr. Rebecca Ruud, an internist at Virginia Mason Clinic in Seattle. "People have a heightened awareness."

Dr. Robert Saunders, one of three doctors in a small North End office, has a plan if patients in the waiting room are suspected of having SARS: put them back into their car and call public-health officials. "We're prepared," he said. "Who knows what we'll do next week, but that's what we'll do for now."

One Seattle nursing home, whose residents are primarily Asian, is asking family members who travel to Asia not to visit residents for 10 days after they return.

Yesterday, King County public-health officials said four patients who may have had SARS were recovering. But they would provide few details, and until there is a definitive test for the illness, it won't be known if the four had the disease.

Some of the hardest hit locally by the illness weren't sick — just sad, as school trips were canceled because of concerns about SARS.

About 60 band students from Kenmore Junior High and Inglemoor High School, scheduled to leave next week for performances in Beijing and at the Great Wall of China, will be staying home, said Kenmore Principal James Ivory.

"There were lots of tears because these kids put in a lot of night and weekend rehearsals for this trip," Ivory said. "We made it through the start of war and orange alerts and still felt pretty safe, but with the ... outbreak, I couldn't put kids in that kind of danger."

Last week, Medina Elementary School canceled its spring break plans for 15 fifth-graders and 13 parents who were planning to tour China with the "Medina and China" program.

As the level of awareness about SARS rises, Nell Garvin, lead school nurse for the Bellevue School District, said parents are growing increasingly concerned. She received three calls from concerned parents yesterday. Two parents urged the district to prevent children who travel to China over spring break from re-entering school. Garvin said schools will not exclude children unless they are diagnosed with the illness.

Many people in Seattle are heeding warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has advised travelers to postpone trips to mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Hanoi, Vietnam.

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that airlines leaving affected cities screen travelers and prevent those suspected of having the illness from flying. Early today, WHO advised travelers to avoid going to Hong Kong and the Chinese province of Guangdong because of the disease.

Northwest Airlines, which flies Seattle and Tokyo, a hub for trips to Hong Kong and other affected cities, is on the lookout for travelers who show signs of the disease and is asking passengers at check-in if they have symptoms or have been in contact with potential SARS cases. People with suspected cases will be prevented from flying, said Northwest spokeswoman Mary Stanik.

If passengers develop symptoms aboard a flight, Stanik said, they will be isolated as much as possible, provided a face mask, and the crew will alert health authorities at the destination airport.

At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, passengers arriving from Asian countries with the disease are observed for symptoms of SARS by CDC and immigration officials. Sea-Tac is one of eight U.S. airports with a quarantine station, said spokesman Bob Parker.

Although Seattle has no direct flights arriving from any of the affected Asian cities, Parker said, many passengers from areas affected by the outbreak connect in Tokyo; Seoul, South Korea; or Taipei, Taiwan, which do have direct flights to Sea-Tac.

Even though the majority of SARS cases have been in Asian countries, some Puget Sound nursing-home officials are taking steps to protect the area's vulnerable elderly.

Two state associations for long-term-care facilities are alerting their members to precautions about SARS recently issued by the CDC. "If this thing gets into any kind of facility where you have a vulnerable population, it could just take off like wildfire," said Bonnie Blachly, of the Washington Health Care Association.

Kin On Health Care Center, a Seattle nursing home with predominantly Asian immigrant residents and employees, today will begin asking workers to delay any vacation plans to "infected countries," such as Hong Kong, Vietnam or China, said executive director Sam Wan. If they travel anyway, they will be asked to stay home for seven to 10 days on their return. The same protocol will apply to residents' family members, other visitors and volunteers.

So far, said Dr. Thomas Hooton, an infectious-disease specialist at Harborview Medical Center, travel to Asia or close association with someone who did seems to be the key question. The more that is known about the disease and its transmission, he said, the more concern will be quelled. "It's that unknown factor that gets us panicked."

Seattle Times staff reporters Julia Sommerfeld, Sandi Doughton, Marsha King, Warren King and Kyung Song contributed to this report. Carol M. Ostrom: 206-464-2249 or costrom@seattletimes.com