Yellowknife (Mar 28/03) - Health officials in the NWT are on an "extremely vigilant" watch for cases of the mystery atypical pneumonia that's breaking out worldwide, including in Southern Canada.

The cause of SARS is currently unknown, but it is passed to those who have either recently come from affected countries in Asia or those who've recently had contact with an infected person. Symptoms include a fever (over 38 C) followed by coughing, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, muscle aches, headaches and sore throat. There is no known cure or treatment. If you have the symptoms and have been in Asia or have had contact with somebody who's been in Asia in the last 10 days, Health Canada recommends you cover your face and nose with a clean mask or towel and call your doctor right away. If you plan to travel to Asia, see Health Canada's travel advisories on the Internet.

Wanda White, a communicable disease specialist with the NWT Health Department, said there haven't been any cases in the NWT so far but people should still be cautious.

"It's an unknown disease. We don't know its boundaries," she said. "But we're starting to know a lot more about this disease."

Baffled officials are calling the atypical pneumonia that has killed three Canadians and 53 people worldwide Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS. Health officials in the South are taking extraordinary measures to contain the spread of the strange pneumonia outbreak. In Ontario some schools are being closed and thousands of people with symptoms are quarantined in their homes. There have been 28 confirmed cases in Canada, mostly in the Toronto area.

White said her department received a warning call as soon as the first cases were discovered in Ontario.

"Immediately we were notified through an alert system, and then daily we're updated by Health Canada about what's taking place in the rest of the country and the rest of the world."

"That makes us much more vigilant and poised just in case somebody does come back with the symptoms."

White said Yellowknife wouldn't be at a higher risk with all the Asian tourists that visit this time of year.

"Primarily our Asian visitors are Japanese and they have not even had as much activity as Canada," she said. "The Asian countries that we're extremely worried about are Hong Kong, China and Vietnam."

Anybody flying to Canada will be met by a Health Canada official and given a sheet of paper in their own language telling them what symptoms to watch for and what to report, White said.

Anybody in the NWT who has visited East Asia in the past few weeks should contact their doctor, she added.

She said if there is a Northern outbreak of the disease the NWT Health Department can issue a quarantine order under the Health Act. The order could lawfully force someone to stay inside their house and could be placed on an individual with suspect symptoms.

"If somebody was not sick enough to be hospitalized and we wanted them to stay home and be monitored."

"In Ontario you would have to go through the court system whereas we can directly do that."

White said the last time the NWT used the quarantine order was in what is now Nunavut in 1992 with an outbreak of the E. coli virus.

People experiencing symptoms should call their health provider rather than show up at a hospital or doctors office.

"We have to know you're coming so we can keep you separate from other patients."

Laura Seddon, spokesperson for the department, said her office has added a link from their Web site to Health Canada's Web information on SARS.

"We figured it would be a good public service because I'm sure there are a lot of people out there with questions about it."