WASHINGTON, April 10 (UPI) -- The pneumonia-like illness SARS, which has sickened thousands and killed more than 100, continued to spread to new areas around the globe Thursday.
U.S. health officials said they were investigating a report of a case in Florida, in which a man might have contracted the illness from a co-worker.
Kuwait reported its first case of the disease and Brazil and Malaysia both doubled their number of SARS cases, according to the World Health Organization.
Brazil now reports two cases of the disease and Malaysia has added two more cases bringing its total to three, including one death.
Also on Thursday, Kazakhstan officials said a man there had symptoms indicative of the disease, signaling for the first time that SARS may have spread to Central Asia.
The disease, which is thought to be caused by a previously unknown virus, also might have made its way to Africa. South African officials reported they still were considering a man who had symptoms consistent with SARS to be potentially the country's first case, even though preliminary results came back negative.
Worldwide, 2,781 people have contracted the illness. Most of the people appear to be recovering but 111 have died. Symptoms include a fever, headache, cough and eventually difficulty breathing.
The United States reported 166 cases in 30 states. To date, no deaths have occurred from the disease in the country.
The vast majority of the U.S. cases have occurred in people who have traveled overseas to regions affected by SARS. There have been a few cases in which close household contacts or healthcare members taking care of infected patients have come down with the illness but there have been no cases of the disease being transmitted to members of the community who only have casual contact with an infected individual, which makes the reports coming out of Florida particularly alarming.
"We're very concerned today about reports of suspected SARS cases that may be related to community transmission in Florida," Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a teleconference from Atlanta.
In one case, a Florida man who had traveled to Asia developed symptoms of SARS after returning to his job, and health authorities have determined that one of the man's co-workers has now come down with a respiratory illness.
The CDC is investigating the report but Gerberding said it is "far too early to indicate whether any of these individuals has SARS."
She noted that there is "no indication of spread beyond that point" and the Florida health department is currently monitoring all the people who may have been potentially exposed.
In another case, a 6-year old Florida child was pulled out of his elementary school after developing potential SARS symptoms, raising concerns that classmates could have been infected.
Gerberding said the risk of the other children in the school contracting the illness are slight. This is because all the evidence to date indicates that people who have symptoms are the ones who seem to be infecting others. The child apparently was pulled from the school before he developed symptoms.
The CDC also is taking precautions to prevent transmission of the SARS infectious agent in the blood supply, Gerberding said. "There is no evidence that this is in anyway a bloodborne infection" but the agency plans to issue in conjunction with blood banks guidance for deferring people who donated to regions of the world affected by SARS from donating blood.
Gerberding said this is just a precaution and the CDC is being extra safe in light of the unexpected revelation last summer that West Nile Virus could be transmitted through blood.
The vast bulk of the cases have occurred in China, where the disease is believed to have originated, and Hong Kong. China reported 10 new cases bringing its total to 1,290 infected and 55 deaths.
Hong Kong's total is 998 cases, an increase of 28 since Wednesday. Thirty people in Hong Kong have died from SARS.
Singapore reported the next biggest increase at 8 cases, bringing its total to 126 infected and 9 deaths.
