SARS Notebook: Canadians contesting travel alert

TORONTO — Canadian health officials, fighting a World Health Organization (WHO) advisory warning people against traveling to Toronto, said yesterday they will install advanced fever-screening devices at airports in Vancouver and Toronto to try to halt the movement of people with symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

Canada also said it will host a two-day international conference on SARS in Toronto starting tomorrow. Officials have invited representatives from the WHO, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Pan American Health Organization and officials from China, Britain and Mexico.

Health officials continue to oppose the travel advisory, and their actions yesterday were aimed at persuading WHO to eliminate the measure, which is affecting business and travel to Canada.

No prevention measures were evident at the border crossing between Ontario and New York state, where thousands of cars move between Canada and the United States each day.

Over the weekend, health officials did not stop motorists or hand out information cards for travelers entering or leaving the country. The government has said it would monitor border crossings and alert travelers about SARS.

James Young, Ontario's commissioner of public security, meanwhile, said Canada will change its method of reporting SARS cases. Previously, officials listed both probable and suspected cases. Other countries have focused more on probable cases, which made Canada's numbers appear to be higher.

The nation's health officials traveled to Geneva yesterday, hoping to persuade the WHO to drop the warning last week against travel to Toronto. Tony Clement, Ontario's minister of health, said he would argue that Canada has contained the outbreak and is tracking the chain of transmission. The use of infrared airport-monitoring devices is one measure intended to increase the chances of identifying SARS patients before they travel to other countries.

WHO officials have said their Toronto travel advisory was based on transmission of the disease in the community and overseas.

Ohio school district closes over possible exposure

MINERAL RIDGE, Ohio — The possibility that some students who visited Toronto last week may have been exposed to the SARS virus prompted officials to close a school district serving 1,100 students yesterday.

None of the students showed any signs of severe acute respiratory syndrome, but two school-board members received five or six calls each from parents requesting that schools be closed, said Rocco Adduci, superintendent of Weathersfield School District in suburban Youngstown.

The school shutdown represents one of the most drastic reactions to a virus that Ohio health officials think has infected only one person. Ten other cases are suspected.

New York detains tourist who refused 10-day isolation

NEW YORK — New York City's Health Department detained a foreign tourist for a week after he went to a hospital with symptoms of SARS and refused to follow the department's 10-day isolation policy.

The Health Department said in a statement last week that all but one of the people in the city with possible severe acute respiratory syndrome had remained isolated voluntarily.

"It was certainly a judgment call, but our judgment was to err on the side of safety. In case he did have SARS, he would not infect others in New York City," Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden told The New York Times.

After being discharged, the man went straight to the airport, The Times said. It was not known whether he had SARS, as there is no definitive test for the disease.