Boulder, CO Traveler Could Have SARSJ

April 3, 2003
By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News

A 62-year-old Boulder man became Colorado's fourth possible SARS case Tuesday, and like the others he does not have pneumonia and might not actually have the disease.

The man had been traveling in Hong Kong, one of the two epicenters of the disease, which has proved to be fatal in 4 percent of the cases identified so far.

He also has the symptoms - a fever of at least 100.4 degrees, coughing and trouble breathing - said Doug Benevento, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The man was released from Boulder Community Hospital.

Three Colorado nurses with suspected cases of SARS are improving. They were among 18 nurses who recently returned from China. The one nurse who needed to be hospitalized has been upgraded from stable to good condition.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has decided that a SARS case climbs from suspicious to probable if the person develops pneumonia.

Nationwide, there have been about 100 possible cases of SARS, but no deaths. Worldwide, there are some 2,000 possible cases, and several dozen deaths.

SARS isn't transmitted as easily as the flu, say epidemiologists. It usually requires close contact of several hours with someone who has the syndrome.

The incubation period is two to seven days, so anyone who returned from Asia more than a week ago and isn't sick likely has nothing to worry about.

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