SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- The Department of Public Health reports that a suspected case of the Asian flu-like epidemic known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has been detected in San Francisco.

In a news conference at 1 p.m. today, Dr. Susan Fernyak, the department's director of disease control, said the suspected SARS patient was admitted to a San Francisco hospital over the weekend.

The local patient is being kept in isolation, despite being in stable condition and having an excellent prognosis for recovery, Fernyak said.

To date, the state Department of Health Services has reported a total of 16 possible SARS cases in California, including four in Santa Clara County, one in Alameda County, one in Marin County, and one in Sonoma County.

These local numbers are relatively low, as 1,622 cases of SARS have been reported so far in 13, mostly Asian, countries worldwide. Given the number of people in contact with Asia, and the broad definition of the syndrome's symptoms, Fernyak said she is surprised that more cases have not yet been detected in the Bay Area.

"We are going to have more cases under investigation (in the future)," said Fernyak. "It's inevitable, as people continue to travel abroad."

A suspected case is defined by the health department as someone with fever over 100.4 degrees, respiratory problems developed since Feb. 1 this year, and either close contact with another SARS patient, or recent travel to an Asian country with documented SARS cases.

The list of countries reporting cases to the World Health Organization includes Vietnam, Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, and the entire country of China itself.

People with SARS are thought to be infectious from the time their symptoms start, until 10 days after the symptoms subside, and the main mode of infection is believed to be airborne, within close quarters.

Fernyak defined close quarters as being within six feet, and said that immediate family members of SARS patients and healthcare workers are therefore at greatest risk.

Family members of diagnosed patients are advised to wear surgical masks, and not to share eating utensils or towels until after the infectious period has passed.

So far, the illness has claimed around 60 lives, or approximately 4 to 5 percent of those infected.

In the early stages of the illness, Fernyak said healthcare workers weren't taking the illness seriously, and subsequently exposed themselves to infection -- a mistake they aren't making anymore.

Despite the seriousness of the epidemic, Fernyak doesn't want to cause people undue alarm, as the number of local cases is in fact still low.

"We don't want people panicking at this point -- we'll let you know if we want you to panic," she said.

San Francisco International Airport offers the most Bay Area flights to Asia, prompting officials there to take steps to warn the public of the disease.

SFO spokesman Mike McCarron said yellow alert notices are currently being handed out to all passengers on the three daily flights directly to and from Hong Kong, to caution them about the recent outbreaks.

(Copyright 2003, Bay City News. All rights reserved.)