KEVIN CONNOR, TORONTO SUN, reports:

Hospitals brought out their SARS suits to deal with a mysterious respiratory outbreak that has killed four patients and put dozens of others into quarantine.

“There is no guarantee that this is not the beginning of the next pandemic,” Dr. Allison McGeer, a microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital said yesterday, adding tests so far have shown the outbreak is not SARS, avian flu or influenza.

“This is a sizable outbreak and it’s somewhat unusual. We are doing everything we can to find the organism. We still have to identify it so this is serious.”

Experts have said it’s only a matter of time before a worldwide outbreak of a potentially deadly flu overtakes Toronto, infecting as many as 900,000 people.

This outbreak, which occurred at the Seven Oaks nursing home at 9 Neilson Rd. in Scarborough, began on Sept. 25 and has killed four and affected 68 other residents and five employees.

Fifteen residents have been taken to Scarborough hospital and Rouge Valley hospital and have been quarantined.

One patient died in hospital. The other three died at Seven Oaks. The patients were in their fifties, seventies and nineties.

“We don’t know what it is. The patients have severe flu-like symptoms and we have them in isolation,” said Katie Cronin-Wood at Rouge Valley hospital, which is caring for 12 patients.

‘FULL PRECAUTIONS’

“The staff are following full precautions, wearing gowns, masks, glasses and gloves, almost the full SARS outfits.”

The outbreak is worrisome because it occurred before flu season and hit so many people, said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, director of communicable disease with Toronto Public Health, which is investigating it.

“This outbreak is particularly serious. There is evidence this is a viral illness, but it’s much larger than we normally see and the patients became seriously ill quickly,” Yaffe said. “There is no evidence there is a problem outside (Seven Oaks).”

Public health is following up with people who recently visited the home to check their health. Hospitals and their emergency rooms are operating normally.

SPAWNED FEAR

Cronin-Wood said Rouge Valley’s emergency department is still open but only for patients. No family members are allowed. Children can be accompanied by one adult.

The Ontario Public Health Laboratory continues to study the cause of the illness.

SARS, the deadly virus that killed 44 people in the GTA in 2003, spawned fear throughout the city. When the World Health Organization slapped a travel ban on Toronto it hobbled the local economy.

The city’s lucrative multimillion-dollar tourist and convention industries collapsed overnight.

A KPMG report said that Toronto tourism expenditures plunged by more than $519 million, or 26.5%, between the first SARS outbreak in March 2003 and late October 2003.