Canada: train quarantined: 1st Thread - one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

[Diane Morin]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Via Rail train quarantined in N. Ontario after mystery illness hits passengers

13 minutes ago

FOLEYET, Ont. — Police say a woman in her 60s has died and several others have fallen ill on a halted Via Rail passenger train in northern Ontario that was en route from Vancouver to Toronto.

Ambulances and police scrambled to the tiny hamlet of Foleyet early Friday morning and have now quarantined the train, which was carrying about 260 passengers and 30 crew members. As many as 10 people were reported to have flu-like symptoms and at least one person has been airlifted to the Timmins and District Hospital.

The illnesses appeared to be contained to two train cars.

Only emergency response personnel were being allowed on or off the train and could only get on board with full protective gear.

A CN Rail sleep station had been evacuated and local health facilities are also on standby.

Deborah DesRochers, chairwoman of the town of 380 about 100 kilometres southwest of Timmins, said the scene was chaotic as emergency vehicles arrived on the scene.

"The whole place is being overrun with ambulances and police cars, and we've got helicopters," she said. "They've got the train quarantined. They're trying to isolate what it is."

Provincial police Const. Marc Depatie said officials are still trying to determine exactly what caused the illnesses on the train and whether they're at all related to the fatality.

"We don't know if the element is viral or bacterial or a case of food poisoning," he told CP24.

He said the victim had boarded the train with a group of tourists in Jasper, Alta.

A spokeswoman for Via Rail said the train departed Vancouver three days ago and hadn't reported any problems before Friday.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7Q0-fHwzAdqlClVOGmwfb3FRtyA

[HenryN]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Tour group from Jaspers, Alberta.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Update at 12 (10 minutes)

http://www.680news.com/mediaplayer/mediaplayer2.jsp

This radio report says the victims are members of a tour group. This opens up all kinds of possibilities for disease diagnosis including food contamination and norovirus often seen in mass cruise ship disease events.

[HenryN]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

This radio report says the victims are members of a tour group. This opens up all kinds of possibilities for disease diagnosis including food contamination and norovirus often seen in mass cruise ship disease events.

Norovirus isn't fatal and doesn't cause respiratory problems.

[Shiloh]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Heard a comment on CBC tv earlier that lab reports likely wont be available until later tonight or tommorrow. Right now there is lots of speculation, and little substantiated information. Time will tell what has happened on that train.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Norovirus isn't fatal and doesn't cause respiratory problems.

According to the report the tour group are elderly. They may have pre-existing health conditions.

[HenryN]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

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[Giuseppe]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Heard a comment on CBC tv earlier that lab reports likely wont be available until later tonight or tommorrow. Right now there is lots of speculation, and little substantiated information. Time will tell what has happened on that train.

Strange, but no mention of environmental contaminant. In this case, with sudden onset of symptoms, hyperacute illness, a toxic agent may be more probable than an infectious agent. But, media put only on this later circumstance.

[HenryN]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

According to the report the tour group are elderly. They may have pre-existing health conditions.

Please. There has been NO indication suggesting norovirus which is GASTRO, not respiratory. One dead and one airlifted and talk of quarantining town is NOT an indication of gastro or food poisoning.

[HenryN]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Strange, but no mention of environmental contaminant. In this case, with sudden onset of symptoms, hyperacute illness, a toxic agent may be more probable than an infectious agent. But, media put only on this later circumstance.

My guess is that Jasper to Toronto is a couple of days by train, so illness is not necessarily sudden.

[sharon sanders]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Don't PLEASE me!! lol

[Giuseppe]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Train quarantined near Timmins


May 09, 2008 12:33 PM
Curtis Rush
Jackson Hayes
Staff Reporters

One person is dead and 10 others have been taken to hospital after illness broke out aboard a Toronto-bound VIA train in northern Ontario this morning.

The train, carrying 264 passengers, was stopped at Foleyet, a small town northwest of Sudbury at about 8:35 a.m. after CN Rail was informed that a woman had taken ill and had stopped breathing.

Ten other people were taken to hospital in Timmins with flu-like symptoms, said Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Laura Nichols.

The woman who died was in her 60s, OPP said. Her name was not immediately released.

All the people who became ill boarded the same two cars in Jasper, Alta.

The train, which was due to arrive in Toronto at 8 p.m. today, started its journey in Vancouver.
Police are investigating to see if there is "any criminal element" to the situation, Nichols said.

The remaining passengers were initially quarantined aboard the train and emergency personnel with full protective gear went car to car to examine them, assisted by a doctor who was aboard the train.

Foleyet resident Judy Bromley, who can see the train from the front window of her home, said she first noticed it had stopped around 9:30 a.m.

Bromley said a coroner's van had been on the scene, and that three ambulances and three to four police cars remained outside the station late in the morning.

Word about the quarantined train is spreading throughout the small town, she added.

Bromley also said a large orange helicopter has landed in the baseball field near the tracks.

She said a CN official told her passengers were taken off the train and led to a railway rooming house nearby. She said railway employees use the two-story bunkhouse during layovers. The facility, located beside the Foleyet station, has 30 to 40 rooms.

Bromley said she saw ambulance workers outside her home preparing to enter the train. "They stopped outside, put on white suits and masks, then got back in and left."

Police blocked the entrance to the local CN yard at Young St. and Railway Ave.

Another resident said she saw at least two people loaded onto an air ambulance.

Ontario's Ministry of Health has sent two air ambulances with critical care paramedics to the scene from their home base in Sudbury, said ministry spokesperson Laurel Ostfield.

"They're more highly trained than regular ambulance crews," she added, noting the ministry is keeping a close watch on the situation and is working with the provincial agency Emergency Management Ontario.
With files from Rob Ferguson

http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/423330

[HenryN]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Mystery illness strikes Via Train; woman dead, others sick


TIMOTHY APPLEBY
Globe and Mail Update with The Canadian Press
May 9, 2008 at 12:58 PM EDT

<!-- dateline -->FOLEYET, Ont.<!-- /dateline --> ? With hundreds of passengers aboard, many believed to be foreign tourists, a VIA Rail train remained under quarantine in a small northern Ontario town Friday afternoon after a woman in her 60s died from a mysterious flu-like ailment and at least 10 others were taken to hospital in Timmins.
"We're just going crazy,? said Foleyet resident Carol Woodhouse, who works at a bunkhouse where train crews rest and eat.
As an army of ambulances, police cruisers and helicopters descended on Foleyet, a town of less than 400 people, only emergency personnel wearing full protective gear were being allowed aboard the train, which was en route to Toronto from Vancouver after leaving the West Coast three days ago.
Ontario public health officers were interviewing passengers, but a health official in Vancouver said all those who fell sick are believed to have boarded the train in Jasper.
Videos

Expert discusses illness on Via Rail train
Dr. Michael Gardam discusses what illness may have caused the death of one woman and caused several others to fall ill on a Via Rail train



"The rumours are flying, people are talking about SARS, nobody knows what's going on,? Ms. Woodhouse said. "Usually we only have two policemen here, now I think we've got 20.?
She estimated the train ? carrying 260 passengers and 30 crew ? consisted of at least 30 carriages, but the illness is believed to have been contained within one or two cars.
The stricken passengers were taken to Timmins and District Hospital, an hour's drive east.
Initial reports said five people had fallen ill and that figure reportedly rose to 10. Local authorities, however, were saying little, Ms. Woodhouse said. "They're keeping things pretty hush-hush.?
The train was halted about 8:35 a.m. after the woman was discovered dead.
Constable Marc Depatie told CP24 that officials were still trying to determine what caused the illnesses on the train and how they are linked to the fatality.
"We don't know if the element is viral or bacterial or a case of food poisoning.?
The woman who died is believed to have boarded the train in Jasper, Alta, as part of a group of tourists, he said.
Deborah DesRochers, chairwoman of the town of 380 about 100 kilometres southwest of Timmins, said the scene was chaotic as emergency vehicles arrived on the scene.
"The whole place is being overrun with ambulances and police cars, and we've got helicopters,? she said. "They've got the train quarantined. They're trying to isolate what it is.?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080509.wtrain0509/BNStory/National/home

[HenryN]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

News conference soon. One airlifted patient in "serious" condition.

[Giuseppe]

Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms

Train quarantined near Timmins [UPDATED]


May 09, 2008 01:04 PM
Curtis Rush
Jackson Hayes
Staff Reporters

One person is dead and 10 others have been taken to hospital after illness broke out aboard a Toronto-bound VIA train in northern Ontario this morning.

The train, carrying 264 passengers, was stopped at Foleyet, a small town northwest of Sudbury at about 8:35 a.m. after CN Rail was informed that a woman had taken ill and had stopped breathing.

Ten other people were taken to hospital in Timmins with flu-like symptoms, said Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Laura Nichols.

The woman who died was 60, an OPP source said, and a member of a group of seven travellers, all of whom fell ill. Her name was not immediately released.

All the people who became ill boarded the same two cars in Jasper, Alta.

The train, which was due to arrive in Toronto at 8 p.m. today, started its journey on Tuesday afternoon in Vancouver.

Police are investigating to see if there is "any criminal element" to the situation, Nichols said.

The remaining passengers were initially quarantined aboard the train and emergency personnel with full protective gear went car to car to examine them, assisted by a doctor who was aboard the train.

Foleyet resident Judy Bromley, who can see the train from the front window of her home, said she first noticed it had stopped around 9:30 a.m.

Bromley said a coroner's van had been on the scene, and that three ambulances and three to four police cars remained outside the station late in the morning.

Word about the quarantined train is spreading throughout the small town, she added.

Bromley also said a large orange helicopter has landed in the baseball field near the tracks.

She said a CN official told her passengers were taken off the train and led to a railway rooming house nearby. She said railway employees use the two-story bunkhouse during layovers. The facility, located beside the Foleyet station, has 30 to 40 rooms.

Bromley said she saw ambulance workers outside her home preparing to enter the train. "They stopped outside, put on white suits and masks, then got back in and left."

Police blocked the entrance to the local CN yard at Young St. and Railway Ave.

Another resident said she saw at least two people loaded onto an air ambulance.

Dr. Donald Low, the medicial director Ontario public health lab, said he doesn't believe an exotic disease such as SARS or avian flu is responsible.
"It doesn't fit the profile because of the explosive nature of this event," said Low, who helped co-ordinate efforts to contain Toronto's SARS outbreak.
Low said food poisoning isn't likely either because it "usually doesn't kill you" and that is associated with gastrointestinal problems and diarrhea.
He said early indications suggest that influenza may be the cause.
"You've got 10 people showing the same symptoms," he said. "I think it could be an outbreak of influenza. This (death) is typical of an older person who maybe has an underlying heart disease."

Both SARS and avian flu take several days to manifest themselves, but the illness that struck the passengers appeared to come on suddenly, he noted.

Low said he will know more when the public health lab in Toronto gets specimens from the health lab in Timmins, likely within the next 24 hours.

Ontario's Ministry of Health has sent two air ambulances with critical care paramedics to the scene from their home base in Sudbury, said ministry spokesperson Laurel Ostfield.

"They're more highly trained than regular ambulance crews," she added, noting the ministry is keeping a close watch on the situation and is working with the provincial agency Emergency Management Ontario.

Chris Woo, front office manager at Decore Hotels in Jasper, said passengers who board or get off in the resort mountain town stay in different places.

"They don't stay as one group but some go on to other places and others continue on to Toronto," said Woo this morning.

Helen Kelleher-Empey with Jasper Tourism and Chamber of Commerce said passengers who pass through the town of 4,500 via the train arrive from all over Canada and the United States.

"The train picks up people who come up from the States from Amtrak, and drops off people who come form Edmonton and others go on to Saskatchewan," she said. "We call ourselves the train hub of the Rockies."
With files from Rob Ferguson and Petti Fong
-

http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/423330

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