The Associated Press State & Local Wire

June 18, 2003, Wednesday, BC cycle

Possible SARS victim quarantined at North Texas
hospital

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 519 words

DATELINE: DALLAS



Health officials have used a court order to quarantine a man who reported to a North
Texas hospital complaining of SARS-related symptoms, then tried to leave the
facility.
The man, who told medical staffers that he had traveled recently to Toronto,
remained early Wednesday at the unnamed hospital pending results of a test of
whether he has severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can take as long as three weeks
to determine whether the man is a probable SARS case, which requires evidence of
more severe illness, including pneumonia.

Dr. Assefa Tulu, Dallas County's chief epidemiologist, said the patient gave a name,
address and telephone numbers that could not be verified by county officials.
Officials said they had no choice but to detain the patient until a test showed
whether he had SARS.
A guard has been stationed outside the patient's hospital room, which has "negative
airflow" so that air from his room cannot reach other parts of the hospital.
The CDC has so far received reports of 404 suspected SARS cases in the United
States. Of those, 73 are listed as probable. None has been fatal. One of nine
suspected Texas cases has met the definition of a probable case. In Toronto, the
death of a 67-year-old man on Monday has pushed the toll from the
deadly SARS virus to 34.
The North Texas man showed up at the emergency room Thursday night with a
cough, fever and other symptoms associated with SARS.. County officials announced
Tuesday that they had obtained a court order allowing them to quarantine the man.
But health officials declined to identify anyone involved in the case, including the
district court judge who signed the quarantine order Monday. They cited the new
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which are intended to protect
patient privacy, along with other several state and federal laws.
"The public does not have to get alarmed or panicked ... as long as you don't have
contact with this person," Tulu told The Dallas Morning News in Wednesday's
editions.
Signs in the emergency room instructed all patients to seek immediate assistance if
they had SARS-like symptoms and had traveled recently to certain foreign cities,
including Toronto. The patient heeded those signs, said Betty Culbreath-Lister,
county health director.
"People were aware almost in the beginning that the patient was a suspect
for SARS," said Dr. Karine Lancaster, county health authority, who sought the order.
It was the first time in Dallas County that the state's quarantine law was used to
force a possible SARS patient into treatment. The law has been used twice since
1996 to force tuberculosis patients into treatment.
The patient has retained an attorney. A hearing will be scheduled in several days to
determine whether the quarantine will continue, said two representatives of the
district attorney's office.
Attorneys, the judge and other court personnel will be garbed to protect them from
exposure to the man's illness during the hearing, said Joe Winful, an assistant district
attorney.