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flu like illness on Canadian train

By catdynamics on May 9, 2008.

Passenger train halted and quarantined in northern Ontario

One dead, apparently 60 year old female.
Ten sick, four reported serious.
All reportedly part of a tour group from Alberta, train Vancouver->Toronto.
All from two sleeper carriages.

'flu like symptoms. Reports don't specify if that includes a fever.
Could be toxin - food or bad ventilation.
Or it could be infectious agent.

PS: with a food toxin or inhaled toxin fever is unlikely.
Presence of fever would suggest bacterial or viral infection.
Bacterial infection could be from food, though it is more likely to be gastric than respiratory.
recombinomics.com now has a claim of upper respiratory illness - if there is accompanying fever, then it may well be viral and contagious.
Which is why the Canadians are being very careful.
Expect lab results within 24 hours - still most likely to be nothing serious.
/PS

Local district hospital has apparently requested a declaration of emergency, not clear what that means, could be just to give them quarantine authority and release of resources from up the chain.

flutrackers has a rapid fire thread updating this

Probably nothing serious, but worth keeping half an eye on.

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Seems like a really fast (hours) infection and symptoms appearing flu. We'll see.

I got some memos stating that they suspect norovirus. But none of the reports mentioned gastrointestinal symtpoms. This is why I hate the term "flu-like." What's the symptomology? And if it's a tour group, how long were they on that tour? Were they on the return trip? If so, then they must've been together for many days prior.

By SASsy Little Thing (not verified) on 09 May 2008 #permalink

well, they're now saying it was three unrelated things - death from pre-existing conditions, a severe non-influenza illness, and a group of mildly sick people
I am inferring they are seeing inconsistent symptoms

looks like it was an interesting exercise for the Canadians in how handle a suspected outbreak, based on their SARS experience
Looks like they handled it well - bit of an overreaction in retrospect, but erring on the side of caution and moving rapidly and carefully.