Why was Toronto included in the World Health Organizations SARS-related travel advisory?
Guénaël R.M. Rodier Dr. Rodier is Director, Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response, World Health Organization, Geneva. Correspondence to: Dr. Guénaël R.M. Rodier, Director, Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response, World Health Organization, CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland On Apr. 23, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised international travellers to consider postponing all but essential travel to Beijing and Shanxi Province, China, and to Toronto. This advice was based on an assessment of the risk that travellers to these 3 areas might become infected with the SARS virus during their stay and export the disease to another country, possibly seeding an outbreak there. Similar advice to travellers contemplating visits to Hong Kong and Guangdong Province, China, had been issued Apr. 2. Factors considered when making these assessments include the magnitude and dynamics of the outbreak measured, in part, through data on the prevalence of cases (total number of reported cas