No New Cases of Mystery Illness Reported

Health authorities said Wednesday that the epidemic of a mysterious flu-like disease that has terrified Arizona and New Mexico residents may have peaked, with no new deaths or cases of life-threatening respiratory distress reported since Saturday.

“I personally find it very encouraging,” said Dr. Gary Simpson, chief of infectious diseases for the New Mexico Department of Health. But he cautioned: “These things sometimes come in waves, and it doesn’t mean we are around the corner or out of the woods yet.”

Officials did increase the number of deaths attributed to the disease, called unexplained respiratory distress syndrome or URDS, to 13 with the discovery that a 23-year-old American Indian man died from the syndrome in early May. With the exception of one 87-year-old, all the victims have been young and apparently healthy, and more than two-thirds have been American Indians.

Despite their satisfaction with the apparent lack of new cases, researchers still have no clue to what causes the disease. They do not expect answers until the beginning of next week at the earliest, when the first wave of test results will be available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Virtually all of the URDS cases have been linked to the large Navajo Reservation in the Four Corners area of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, a region about the size of New Jersey.

Many American Indians with flu-like symptoms have been streaming into Indian Health Service facilities scattered throughout the region, but most have been found to have colds or influenza A. Beginning Tuesday night, Peterson Zah, president of the Navajo Nation, began a series of radio broadcasts urging the 219,000 members of the Navajo Nation to visit health care facilities if they show symptoms.

Radio messages are virtually the only way to reach many Navajos, who are scattered thinly throughout the reservation and often live beyond the reach of electricity, television and newspapers but own portable radios.

The broadcasts seemed likely to further strain the Indian Health Service facilities, which are crowded even in the best of times.

At the Gallup Indian Medical Center, closest major medical facility to the reservation, Dr. Timothy Fleming said that the center has been getting 30% to 50% more patients than normal and that new patients must often wait several hours. He said the situation was similar at other facilities in Crownpoint, Shiprock, Ft. Defiance and Zuni.

The response to special Department of Health telephone lines has also been overwhelming, spokeswoman Janet Voorhees said. This morning, the number of lines is to be increased from two to 12 to handle the volume, she said.

The situation is much calmer in Santa Fe, which is outside the reservation, and patient loads at hospitals have been about normal, said Dr. Ben Whitehill, medical director of the Indian Hospital. But he reported receiving visits from panicky people who had been to the reservation.

The early stages of URDS are characterized by fever, muscle ache and either cough, headache or conjunctivitis (inflammation or reddening of the eye), symptoms much like a cold or the flu. But unlike colds or flu, there is no runny nose or swelling of the lymph glands. In the later, more serious stage, fluid collects in the lungs, suffocating the victim.

Zah also urged residents to cooperate with federal authorities attempting to find links among URDS victims--a search that has so far proved fruitless. The families of some victims apparently stopped talking to authorities after local media made their names public.