Posted on 03/17/2003 2:09:47 PM PST by ex-Texan
Previously Unknown Chinese Virus Announced: People Speculate Wildly About "Biological Weapons" ...
Breaking news less than two hours ago in The New York Times:
A strange respiratory disease originally named by health care officials "severe acute respiratory syndrome" (SARS) has just been identified as a previously unknown virus. Identified cases of the new disease have "doubled" in the past few days according to medical officials in Hong Kong. It is now known that the disease originated in Guandong Province in Southern China, where over 350 cases were documented last November.
World Health Organization officials say this new disease "cannot be stopped" by standard anti-viral and anti-bacterial drugs. Health officials say the virus has been spread rapidly across the globe by international air travelers. The total number of cases world wide are not known, but more than 400 cases have been reported by health agencies around the world. There were fewer than 100 known cases just a week ago. People are hospitalized in at least six countries: Germany, Canada, United States, Vietnam, China and Thailand.
Bookings for visitors traveling to Hong Kong from Europe and the United States have not been adversely affected by news of the outbreak. But bookings from elsewhere in Southeast Asia have plunged by up to 80 percent in the last several days as countries like Singapore and Thailand have discouraged their citizens from taking unnecessary trips.
Rumors Spreading about Death Rates:
Rumors have been spreading rapidly about this new virus and its morbidity rate. So far total deaths have been reported to be nine as of yesterday. But facts may have been withheld by China and some health officials have issued alarmed comments. I quote briefly from three news reports:
From the New York Times report cited above:
Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand asserted today that some World Health Organization officials believe the new illness could be as deadly as the influenza pandemic that killed 20 million people worldwide in 1918 and 1919.
From a report in The Asia Times doctors in Hong Kong are concerned by efforts to downplay threats posed by the disease. (March 17, 2003):
The president of the Public Doctors' Association, Dr Leung Ka-lau, has described the situation in Hong Kong as "red light", without giving further details. He criticized the government for misleading the public into believing that Hong Kong was in the "yellow light" stage.
From a report in the New York Post today it appears officials all over the world are angry about the "news blackout" by China. (March 17, 2003):
Scientists are furious that China hid a mysterious illness that had been identified there for over four months. China's silence prevented them from getting an early jump on the pneumonia-like disease that has affected hundreds - including a doctor who visited New York City last week.
"People are upset about this," one American epidemiologist told The Post on the condition of anonymity.
"Things were concealed, they were hidden from the rest of the world. We didn't know how bad it was."
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has drawn worldwide attention and been called a global "threat" by health officials in the past week after nearly 200 people fell ill, mainly in Southeast Asia.
Wild Rumors About Possible Biological Weapons:
There are rumors spreading on the Internet about "biological warfare." We need to silence those rumors. There is no reason to fear this new virus might be a bioweapon or caused by the accidental release of a man made virus.
(Excerpt) Read more at newspundit.net ...
so do I !
We were in Guangzhou a few years ago for a couple months (husband had a work assignment there.)
The open air markets were unbelievable. Every animal you could think of being slaughtered on the spot. Dogs, cats, goats, ducks, rabbits, snakes, rats, etc. and the blood and fluids just flowing into the street and there was nothing to do, but walk through the "gunk."
I made sure that everytime we put on or took off our shoes, we washed our hands.
Plus all the "spitting" on the street, which I guess is a normal custom, led me to believe that a major health crisis could easily get out of hand.
Anything further on the 90% mortality rate reported a couple of days ago?
The quick infection of health care workers concerns everybody in that economic sector. Who will treat patients if the doctors and nurses are ill (or dying or dead) ?
There are over 87 million people living in that Guandong Province alone. If this flu gets out of control in China, then it will spread rapidly across Asia in a matter of a few months. Next stop San Francisco, Seattle or other major cities with major travel to Asia.
Until we isolate it, developing a vaccine is a fantasy, and it might be too late to do that anyway before it becomes a pandemic. You couldn't pay me enough money to go to Hong Kong right now, although it's entirely possible that it's already spread far beyond what we know today.
Fortunately, it appears that we're taking this very seriously, and if it can be stopped, we'll do it.
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