Probable U.S. SARS Cases Number 35

About three dozen Americans have probable cases of SARS using the definition of the deadly flu-like disease followed by the rest of the world, federal officials said Thursday.

In all, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists 208 Americans from 34 states as probable or suspected SARS cases. However, only 35 of them meet the definition for probable cases of the disease set by the World Health Organization.

CDC Director Dr. Julie L. Gerberding said the agency will begin using the WHO definition because “we don’t want to exaggerate the scope of the problem here by including patients” who would not be considered SARS cases elsewhere.

Many of the suspected U.S. cases had only mild flu-like symptoms, and less than one-quarter were hospitalized. Most were on the list because of recent travel to countries with SARS. “We did cast a very wide net early on,” Gerberding said. “We know we have many more people in that net than truly have SARS.”

A suspected case is someone with a temperature greater than 100.4 Fahrenheit, a respiratory illness such as a cough, shortness of breath or trouble breathing, and travel to an area where SARS is common or contact with a SARS patient. A probable case also has X-ray evidence of pneumonia or respiratory distress syndrome.

Of the 35 probable cases, 33 had traveled to mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore or Hanoi, one was a health-care worker who tended to a SARS patient and one a household contact.