TORONTO -- Canadian authorities quarantined a train in northern Ontario Friday after a woman died and several other people came down with an undetermined illness.Officials were keeping passengers from leaving the train, said Steve Trinier, the director of ambulance services in the area.The train was being held in the station in the town of Foleyet, 500 miles northwest of Toronto. The station was evacuated.As many as 10 people were ill with flu-like symptoms. The illnesses appeared to be contained to two cars on the train of 269 passengers and 30 crew members.One person was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition, Trinier said.The cross-country Via passenger train was headed from Vancouver to Toronto when emergency officials received a call Friday morning and met the train in Foleyet.Trinier said they didn't know the cause of the illnesses yet."There's certainly a possibility of something as simple as food poisoning and also an environmental toxin of some sort," Trinier said.
A Via Rail train from Vancouver arrived in Toronto on Saturday morning after a health scare in northern Ontario.
For more than 10 hours on Friday, the train with 294 people on board was quarantined in the village of Foleyet, 100 kilometres southwest of Timmins, Ont., after an 86-year-old female passenger died.
In addition, an ill passenger was flown to a Timmins hospital with respiratory problems and five others on the train developed flu-like symptoms. Medical officials said Saturday that neither the passenger who was airlifted to Timmins, nor the others who felt ill, tested positive for influenza.
"An assessment of all passengers on a VIA Rail train from Vancouver to Toronto has been completed and results confirm that there was no outbreak of infectious disease," Ontario's Ministry of Health said in a statement.
The woman's death is still under investigation, but an infectious disease has been ruled out, according to the health ministry.
"It happened to be [the] confluence of three [separate events] at the same time," Ontario's acting chief medical officer, Dr. David Williams, said Friday at a news conference in Toronto.
But health officials across the country were praising the quick reaction of emergency response teams, hailing it as a sign the system is working after lessons learned from the 2005 SARS outbreak.
Ontario officials say the woman found dead in a washroom on the train may have died of a heart attack. The doctor on the train who found the woman had earlier been notified about her deteriorating health.
But earlier in the day, authorities said all they knew was that one woman seemingly healthy one moment was dead the next and that a group, including tourists from Australia who might have passed through Asia, was sick.
Posted by: kwflatbed
Train Death And Series Of Illnesses Unrelated Says Chief Medical Officer Of Health
Friday May 9, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
What initially looked to be a frightening infectious disease outbreak that led to the death of one woman aboard a Via Rail train turned out to be a remarkable series of unconnected coincidences, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams, explained during a Friday afternoon press conference.
The elderly woman died during the train ride from Vancouver to Toronto, but health officials say she likely didn't have an infectious disease. Six other passengers also fell ill, with the most serious being rushed to hospital with a respiratory illness of some sort. Officials, however, believe that passenger was suffering from a pre-existing condition, and the five others who were reportedly ill with flu-like symptoms were all determined to have been feeling sick before they boarded the train.
Williams says the death and illnesses seemed to "a confluence of two or three events" and were unrelated.
The train was initially halted in the northern Ontario hamlet of Foleyet at about 8:30 Friday morning. It was on day three of a trip from Vancouver to Toronto and was carrying about 264 passengers and 30 crew members.
"One of the passengers died suddenly while onboard the train," Williams confirmed. "While the cause of death continues to be under investigation, it has been determined that the deceased did most likely not have an infectious disease."
"Another passenger was airlifted to the Timmins area hospital. That passenger underwent medical assessment and it has been determined that person also does not have infectious disease. Another five passengers who also felt ill were isolated and assessed onboard the train."
"Their symptoms were determined to be minor, with no high temperature or breathlessness indicated, and they're in stable condition. The origins of the illness that caused the passenger death is unknown at this time."
"They actually were not connected, as we found out."
Const. Marc Depatie of the Foleyet OPP said that the female passenger was picked up in Jasper, Alberta with a tour group and appears to be in her 60s. It's not known if she was travelling with family.
"The woman who had expired made her way onto the train with pre-existing health issues," Const Depatie explained, but it's not yet known what caused her death. There was a doctor on board the train who attempted to treat her. After she died, he focused on other passengers with the mystery symptoms.
Health Canada and the Ministry of Health are continuing to monitor the situation, but it's expected that the train will continue its journey sometime Friday evening.
The storm of media attention was somewhat shocking for residents of the small Ontario town.
"The whole place is being overrun with ambulances and police cars, and we've got helicopters," said Deborah DesRochers, chairwoman of the town.
Residents like 53-year-old Leo DesRochers, stopped by to get a closer look.
"It's creating quite a bit of excitement, it's really rolling in here," he said.
"There's lots of people standing around, lots of police, and they're handling it with white gloves. They're being pretty careful about it, saying we don't know what it is but we're being really cautious about it."
Watch CityNews at Five and Six for the full story. If you know someone on board, call 1-877-747-0707. The number was updated Friday afternoon.
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