Legionnaires' disease likely cause of deadly outbreak at Toronto nursing home

TORONTO (CP) - Health officials say Legionnaires' disease identified as likely cause of deadly outbreak at Toronto nursing home. The illness has claimed 16 lives at an east-end nursing home and brought Canada's largest city unwanted international attention.

Officials called a news conference for 5 p.m. ET and were expected to discuss the nature of the outbreak at the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged.

Earlier Thursday, Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman tried to fend off mounting fears by saying Toronto is "open for business" and remains a safe place to live, work and play.

"This is not SARS, and this is not avian flu," Smitherman said. "It is a tragedy, but it is contained."

Public health officials have insisted the outbreak is under control, and the World Health Organization has said it's not a major concern, even though the origins of the deadly disease had yet to be identified.

"It has not spread beyond the walls of Seven Oaks, and there is no evidence to suggest that it will," Smitherman said.

But lingering memories of Toronto's devastating SARS outbreak of 2003 has attracted the attention of the international media - and sent a shiver down the spine of anyone who relies on the millions of tourists who visit the city each year.

"We obviously see it as our responsibility in a global news environment to help to communicate that the circumstances here are being very, very well addressed," Smitherman said.

"My essential responsibility - and a message that I'm very pleased to deliver - is one of confidence that here in Toronto we're continuing about business as normal."

Smitherman called the outbreak "significant in scale," but said it was important to realize similar outbreaks happen in nursing homes around the world on a fairly regular basis, and he bristled at reports that international media outlets are describing Toronto as a "hot zone" and "ground zero" for respiratory illnesses.

"They have a desire to provoke a certain reaction from their audience," he said. "I think that language is a bit rich in the circumstance."

Smitherman urged media outlets to keep the story in perspective and remind people the outbreak in Toronto is contained to the one facility.

"I want to send a message of reassurance that this tragedy is heralding some sort of SARS-like outbreak - it is not."

The World Health Organization in Geneva, which issued travel warnings against Toronto in 2003 during the SARS crisis, said Thursday there was no reason for other countries to be concerned about the mysterious illness at one nursing home.

"At this point, especially since we haven't seen any cases recently, we don't consider this an outbreak of international importance," said WHO spokesman Dick Thompson.