US universities eye SARS travel bans

When Harvard University announced a moratorium on travel to SARS-affected Toronto early last week, Canadian newspapers grumbled that it was overkill. But with SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) continuing to spread in Toronto, Harvard's move seems increasingly justified, say university health officials. And other Ivy League institutions may follow suit."On Monday we were taking heat for our decision, but by Thursday we looked pretty good," said Barry Bloom, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, speaking of the university's decision to request that its nearly 30,000 students, faculty, and staff refrain from traveling to Toronto. Reports last week of possible transmission within a church group and at a condominium complex in Toronto seemed to indicate that the so-called "community spread" of the virus had begun. According to Bloom, most epidemiologists define "community spread" as transmission among people who do not know from whom they acquired the virus. Two residents in separate apartments in the complex came down with SARS but had no known contact with each other. "That is community spread," he said. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not named Toronto in its recommendation to defer nonessential travel to affected areas, which currently include mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Hanoi, Vietnam. However, last Thursday night (April 17), the CDC issued a health alert, advising people arriving in the US from Toronto to monitor their health status for 10 days. Health Canada's director Paul Gully said the Harvard moratorium was unwarranted. "Given the population of Toronto, as long as one is not visiting hospitals, the risk of acquiring SARS is low," he said, adding that he supports the CDC's health alert notice for Toronto. On Tuesday (April 22) CDC infection control experts went to Toronto to help the city's hospitals contain SARS.Some other Ivy League universities are still considering whether to follow Harvard's lead. Princeton, in New Jersey, has issued a moratorium on travel using university money to affected areas in Asia. Although Princeton does not specifically mention Toronto, it does advise against travel to places with "large numbers of cases." Jan Neglia of Princeton's Health Services department said, "We've actually gone a little further than the CDC in terms of our recommendations on travel to endemic areas."Such severe bans on travel could put a crimp in research and the exchange of information, said Jack Turco, director of health services at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, NH. "If you've got six months left on your grant to finish research in southern China, can the university really say you cannot go?" The question remains how Harvard, Princeton, and other universities will police the travel of their faculty and students. "Everybody is throwing the word 'moratorium' around," said Turco, "but I am not sure there are any teeth in that." Harvard's Office of International Programs confirmed Tuesday that students will not receive credit for study abroad in SARS-affected areas covered by the CDC advisories.Other Ivies, instead of issuing moratoriums on travel, are requesting that travelers check in with university health services upon their return. "We cannot restrict somebody's travel, but we can advise them on what to do when they get back," said Jane Bedell, Health Services Director for Columbia University in New York.Numerous research conferences in Toronto have been cancelled since the epidemic began. The biggest, the American Association for Cancer Research meeting, had been expecting 16,000 researchers and physicians but was cancelled just two days before the meeting was scheduled to begin on April 4.Editor's note: After this article was posted, the World Health Organization announced the addition of Toronto, as well as Beijing and Shanxi Province, China, to its advice against non-essential travel.

US universities eye SARS travel bans

Harvard, first to ban Toronto travel, feels vindicated by latest developments.

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