SPRINGFIELD, IL – While there are no laboratory confirmed cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the state, the Illinois Department of Public Health today reported six new suspect cases, including five individuals who are believed to have acquired the illness through transmission within a household. This is the first time there has been suspected transmission of SARS in Illinois.

A 30-year-old male traveled to China, where SARS has become increasingly common. After returning to Illinois, four household contacts became ill with respiratory symptoms and fevers of at least 100.5 F, thus meeting the definition of a suspect SARS case. The household contacts are a 76-year-old female, a 75-year-old male, a 30-year-old female and a 3-year-old female. The 75-year-old male is currently hospitalized, but is expected to be discharged soon. The other four individuals were never hospitalized and have recovered.

In addition, a household contact of a 48-year-old male who was reported earlier this week as a suspected case meets the case definition. The 46-year-old female has not been hospitalized.

"There is no reason to believe the general public is at risk," said Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director. "All of these secondary transmissions occurred in close contacts of someone who traveled to Asia. Local health authorities have been in touch with all the individuals with suspected SARS and their close contacts and have advised them on what precautions should be taken."

The addition of these six new suspect cases, all in the metro Chicago area, brings the total number of suspected SARS cases in Illinois to 15. While these individuals meet the case definition for suspected SARS, their symptoms also are consistent with other illnesses.

SARS appears to be spread is through contact with oral or nasal secretions; namely, when someone sick with SARS coughs or sneezes droplets into the air and someone else breathes them in. It is possible that SARS can be transmitted more broadly through the air or from objects that have become contaminated. No health care workers in Illinois who have been exposed to a patient with suspected SARS have developed the disease.

In order to prevent transmission of SARS in households contacts, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has numerous recommendations including:

• Patients with suspected SARS should limit interactions outside the home and should not go to work, school, out-of-home daycare, or other public areas for 10 days following resolution of their respiratory symptoms and fever.
• During this 10-day period, all members of the household with a suspected SARS patient should carefully follow recommendations for hand hygiene, such as frequent hand washing or the use of alcohol-based hand rubs.
• Each patient with suspected SARS should cover his or her mouth and nose with a tissue before sneezing or coughing.

Dr. Whitaker said the Department is working closely with local health departments, hospitals and infectious disease physicians to ensure they have the most up-to-date information on SARS.

A suspected case of SARS is currently defined by the CDC as a respiratory illness of unknown etiology with onset since Feb. 1, 2003, that meets the following conditions:

• measured temperature of at least 100.5 F AND
• one or more clinical findings of respiratory illness (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, hypoxia, or radiographic findings of either pneumonia or acute respiratory syndrome) AND
• travel within 10 days of onset of symptoms to an area with documented or suspected community transmission of SARS (the People's Republic of China – mainland China and Hong Kong; Hanoi, Vietnam; and Singapore) or passing through an airport in one of these areas, OR
• close contact within 10 days of onset of symptoms with either a person with a respiratory illness who traveled to an area where SARS has been identified or a person known to be a suspected SARS case. Close contact is defined as having cared for, having lived with, or having direct contact with respiratory secretions and/or body fluids of a patient known to be a suspected SARS case.