TORONTO -- In the wake of the announcement that Canada has confirmed its first 鈥減resumptive positive鈥� case of coronavirus, health officials and experts are downplaying the severity of the virus, suggesting most cases could be mild.
Officials revealed Saturday that a man in his 50s started experiencing symptoms of the virus after returning to Toronto from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak. While the man tested positive for the virus during initial tests, officials noted that secondary testing at Canada鈥檚 National Microbiology Laboratory is required to confirm the case.
In the last 24 hours, more countries have reported cases of coronavirus, including the U.S., Australia, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Nepal, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea and France.
But infectious disease expert Dr. Neil Rau notes this may not be a 鈥渄isastrous鈥� development, suggesting that the speed of which the virus appears to be transmitted doesn鈥檛 necessarily correlate to severity.
鈥淰ery clearly it is going to be difficult to contain the spread of this virus globally despite best efforts,鈥� Rau told 麻豆传媒 Channel Saturday.
鈥淚t may reflect that a lot of the illness is mild disease鈥� that it is actually quite contagious, but that a huge number of people don鈥檛 necessarily seek medical attention and that the ones who do, we recognize when we test them, including this Canadian example, its someone with mild disease, not serious disease like SARS.鈥�
Comparisons to SARS have grown as concerns over coronavirus grow in Canada.
During Saturday鈥檚 press conference, officials stressed several times that the system is more equipped to deal with viral outbreaks than it was 17 years ago when a SARS outbreak killed 44 Canadians.
鈥淭he analogy with SARS stops when it comes to the severity of the disease,鈥� Rau said. 鈥淚n the case of SARS, you had a patient in the intensive care unit and the very nurse taking care of that patient becoming sick and ending up in the same intensive care unit on a breathing machine. We don鈥檛 have that story this time.鈥�
Sunnybrook officials described the Canadian patient鈥檚 illness as 鈥渞elatively mild,鈥� on Saturday, with Dr. Jerome Leis adding that they have already seen 鈥渆arly signs of improvement.鈥�
President of Public Health Ontario, Dr. Peter Donnelly, also cautioned against public panic at Saturday鈥檚 press conference.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 very important for us all to realize that many people will have a very mild form of this disease,鈥� he said. 鈥淢any people in China probably don鈥檛 even know they鈥檝e had it, haven鈥檛 sought medical care, or if they have sought medical care, have recovered quite quickly. This is fairly typical of a viral disease.鈥�
In China, the death toll has risen to 56, with 1,975 cases reported. This marks an increase of 15 deaths and 688 cases reported in the last 24 hours.
These numbers reflect 鈥渢he tip of the iceberg,鈥� when it comes to the disease鈥檚 full reach, Rau said.
Patients who are sick enough to show up in the hospital likely do not account for the majority of the disease, he said.
He noted that while things appear to be out of control in Wuhan, where the level of disease has prompted a quarantine by the Chinese government, there is no reason Canadians should fear a similar level of outbreak.
He believes there are two possibilities for how the disease spreads.
鈥淓ither people are only contagious when they are very sick, in which case there鈥檚 no risk,鈥� he said, referring to the likely risk for Canadians in particular. 鈥淥r they鈥檙e actually quite contagious when they have mild disease and we will have more cases from this case, but everyone鈥檚 case is going to be a mild case鈥� in which case it鈥檚 not going to be a disaster to worry about.鈥�
The second possibility is the one he believes is more likely.
鈥淚f it鈥檚 true that one case generates anywhere from two to four new cases, it鈥檚 impossible to contain this virus with the drastic measures they are using in China, even with the more reasonable approaches we are using in Canada,鈥� he said.
Rau added that the outbreak in China is not an early sign of a global disaster, adding that it鈥檚 not time yet for Canadians -- or the world at large -- to start panicking.
鈥淲hatever way this story plays out, I am not concerned that it鈥檚 spelling the end of humanity or that we鈥檙e in for a massive human plague,鈥� he said.
