(March 29, 2003) -- The Centers for Disease Control reports that as of March 28, CA has 12 suspected cases of the severe, atypical (and frequently fatal) flu/pneumonia "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome" (SARS) under investigation...the largest number of any state. (NY ranks second with 8).

The CDC web site did not indicate where in CA the 12 suspected SARS cases are. On March 21, CA had 6 suspected cases.

As previously reported by LBReport.com, L.A. County health officials reported on March 17 that they were investigating one suspected case in Los Angeles County.

CDC says that that as of March 28, there are 59 suspected SARS cases nationwide. A week earlier, there were 22 suspected U.S. cases.

The atypical pneumonia has struck travelers recently returned from Hong Kong; Guangdong Province in the People’s Republic of China; Hanoi, Vietnam and Singapore.

The CDC noted that numbers of suspected cases are expected to fluctuate as additional information becomes available.

The CDC website (www.cdc.gov) devotes a special page to detailed information on SARS. Readers should check the CDC SARS page for updates.

CDC's SARS pages also includes a travel advisory updated on March 28.