A case of smallpox diagnosed in Toronto has touched off an International alarm for travellers who might have come in contact with the 14-year-old victim or his family on their recent trip from Brazil.
James William Orr was admitted to Riverdale Isolation Hospital at 6 p.m. Saturday after being bedridden for nearly a week in an unidentified doctor's house in the east end.
Ontario Health Minister Matthew Dymond said yesterday it virtually certain it is smallpox, results of laboratory tests are expected to confirm it today.
The boy's father, Rev. James Robert Orr, a Baptist missionary is quarantined at the West Lake Ave. home of a long-time friend Ernest Ranney.
"In these unfortunate circumstances," said Mr. Ranney, "we will look after James Orr just as long as he needs assistance. He is welcome in our house."
The missionary and family are members of High Park Baptist Church in Toronto, which contributes to his work in South America.
Mrs. Orr, another son, Joseph, 13, and a daughter, Dorothy, 9, also on the trip from Brazil earlier this month, are quarantined in the family home in Three Hills, Alta., with the victim's grandmother. They were among the dozen persons vaccinated by public health officials as a precautionary measure.
Also vaccinated were members of a family that met Mrs. Orr and her children when they arrived at Three Hills by train Friday night and members of a family living next door to Mrs. Orr's mother.
Dr. Dymond said it was the first smallpox case in Toronto in 30 years. The last case in the province was in Windsor, 28 years ago, he added.
Dr. Dymond said the boy had been vaccinated within the past seven years, which accounts for his improving condition. Immunity begins to wear off three years after vaccination, he said, but there is still some degree of protection for as long as five to seven years.
"Anybody who might have come in contact with the Orr family on Canadian Pacific Railway train 324 from New York to Toronto via Fort Erie on the evening and night of Aug. 11 and the morning of Aug. 12 should see his doctor immediately," said Dr. Dymond.
In Albany, the New York State Health Department advised all persons who were [end of text]