Health scare aboard cross-country train likely a false alarm
Passenger died while travelling from Vancouver to Toronto
Last Updated: Friday, May 9, 2008 | 4:53 PM ET
CBC News
One passenger from a Via train stopped in Foleyet, Ont., was airlifted to a hospital in Timmins, said an emergency medical services spokesman. (Submitted by Caroline Woodhouse)The mysterious death of a woman and flu-like symptoms experienced by other passengers on a cross-country Via Rail train that prompted a quarantine on Friday appears to have been a false alarm.
Ontario's acting chief medical officer Dr. David Williams said there was likely no connection between the sudden death of the woman found in a washroom and ill passengers aboard the train travelling from Vancouver to Toronto.
But health officials across the country were praising the quick reaction of emergency response teams, hailing it as a sign the system is working after lessons learned from the 2005 SARS outbreak.
The train stopped in the northern Ontario village of Foyelet where passengers from two train carriages were placed under quarantine, a woman was airlifted to a hospital in Timmins, about 100 kilometres away, and emergency response workers in hazmat suits descended on the scene.
Health officials determined that the deceased, those experiencing flu-like symptoms and the woman airlifted to hospital did not have infectious diseases.
"It happened to be confluence of three [separate events] at the same time," said Williams.
Heart attack may be cause of death
Ontario officials say the woman, who was in her 60s, may have died of a heart attack. The doctor on the train who found the woman dead in the washroom had earlier been notified about her deteriorating health.
It's believed she had some symptoms of illness when she got on the train in Jasper, Alta., as part of a tour group.
The woman airlifted to hospital tested negative for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, which causes flu-like symptoms. Williams said her symptoms were likely connected to an existing condition.
An air ambulance waits at an intersection in Foleyet, Ont. (Submitted by Caroline Woodhouse)Five other passengers who reported flu-like symptoms were not taken to hospital and are in stable condition with mild symptoms, said Williams.
The sick passengers, who were also part of the tour group, had some symptoms before getting on the train and likely had mild viral illnesses, officials said. One had sought medical treatment in Alberta for a sinus infection, Williams said. Around 7 p.m. ET, the train with its 264 passengers and 30 crew members resumed its journey to Toronto.
But earlier in the day, authorities said all they knew was that one woman seemingly healthy one moment was dead the next and that a group, including tourists from Australia who might have passed through Asia, was sick.
"Given that there's still H5N1 (avian influenza) and while we haven't seen much person-to-person spread, one person dying and another person requiring airlifting and a bunch of other people sick, that kind of throws up some quick flags, " said Dr. David Butler-Jones, Canada's chief public health officer, in an interview with Canadian Press.
Quick action across country
Health officials across the country were pleased with how the incident was handled.
British Columbia's chief medical health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall, said public health officials across the country linked into conference calls to share information quickly.
"Had we had that high level of suspicion in Toronto, for example, at the beginning of SARS, they may not have had the number of cases they subsequently had," he said.
Canada's auditor general, Sheila Fraser, has been critical of provinces outside Ontario for not moving more quickly to formalized systems to deal with public health emergencies.
But Kendall said this incident shows that there is still the will to work together when such emergencies happen.
"Even without the formal signatures on pieces of paper and information-sharing agreements we are all talking to each other very quickly as soon as we find out something unusual is happening," he said.
He said Canada is spending $135 million on a computer system to allow every province and territory to share information in the event of an outbreak.
With files from the Canadian Press
