A deadly outbreak of a respiratory illness at a Toronto nursing home has claimed 16 lives, health officials said.
The bug behind the outbreak at the Seven Oaks Home for the Aged remains unknown, although officials insisted Wednesday that the situation was under control.
Thirty-eight people remained hospitalised with the illness, and officials fear many of them are too frail to fully recover.
Another 88 residents, employees and visitors have been affected.
Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman Wednesday said there was no evidence to suggest the outbreak had spread beyond the Seven Oaks home, but he noted that respiratory illnesses are common among vulnerable groups such as the elderly.
"These are not circumstances that are new," he said.
"We're struggling with circumstances like this always in the institutional environment."
Smitherman was quick to note that lessons had been learned in terms of quick coordination among health officials since the spring of 2003, when SARS claimed 44 lives in Toronto. More than 8,000 people worldwide contracted the
illness and 774 people died.
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