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SARS patients suffer relapses
Australia News ^
| April 30, 2003
| Australia News (AP)
Posted on 04/29/2003 9:26:06 PM PDT by FairOpinion
SOME patients in Hong Kong suffered relapses of SARS after being listed as recovered and discharged from hospitals, a health official has said.
Health Department spokesman Jimmy Lee would not provide numbers or details of the relapses, but said the number had been small. In a telephone interview, Lee confirmed news reports that one patient had fallen ill again and was readmitted to a hospital last Thursday after being discharged three days earlier.
However, University of Hong Kong microbiologist Malik Peiris said although relapses are "not a good thing", they were not surprising given how little was known about the virus that causes severe acute respiratory disease.
"We are still learning about the SARS disease so we cannot say it's not possible," Peiris said. He predicted patients with relapses can recover fully, based on experience with other diseases from coronaviruses, a strain of which experts believe causes SARS.
"From what we know from other animal coronaviruses, I don't think it would go on relapsing forever and ever," Peiris said.
Hong Kong has recorded 1,572 cases of SARS and 150 of the patients have died. But 759 have recovered and been discharged.
Also today, World Health Organisation (WHO) experts investigating Hong Kong's SARS crisis met researchers from the University of Hong Kong to discuss how SARS might be spread in ways other than person-to-person contact, WHO spokeswoman Kay McNiece said.
The WHO officials planned later to visit suspected hotspots at the hardest-hit Amoy Gardens apartment complex and collect samples in their efforts to determine whether the disease was spread through environmental factors, McNiece said.
More than 300 people were infected by SARS at Amoy Gardens and Hong Kong officials have blamed the outbreak on leaking sewage pipes while saying the disease might also have been spread in common areas such as lobbies and elevators. The WHO is conducting an independent assessment and says it wants answers and assurances the outbreak has stopped before lifting an advisory that travelers should avoid Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, a six-year-old girl from a Hong Kong tour group was still under observation for SARS symptoms after she and 32 other people were flown from Taiwan to Hong Kong early today in a jet chartered by the government. Taiwanese officials had earlier quarantined the group in a Taipei hotel.
Others from the tour group have been ordered into home quarantine for a week as a precaution.
The girl has had no fever for two days and her chest X-rays have appeared normal, Hong Kong's Health Director Dr Margaret Chan said yesterday. Taiwanese officials had earlier diagnosed the girl as a suspected SARS case.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hongkong; relapse; sars; sarsrelapses
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Hmmm... Just when we thought they are gaining some control over it.
To: FairOpinion
Health Department spokesman Jimmy Lee would not provide numbers or details of the relapses, but said the number had been small.Only about 40 people in Hong Kong have been out of the hospital for a month or more, so it's too early to know how "cured" folks are.
2
posted on
04/29/2003 9:37:30 PM PDT
by
per loin
To: FairOpinion
Doesn't sound good.
3
posted on
04/29/2003 10:04:02 PM PDT
by
blam
To: FairOpinion
Control? Like the tides this will ebb and flow.
4
posted on
04/29/2003 10:09:44 PM PDT
by
CJ Wolf
Comment #5 Removed by Moderator
To: FairOpinion
Jimmy Lee ... said the number had been smallAhhh ... I feel better now.
I PANICED initially at seeing the headline, but RATIONALITY overtook MY PANIC as THE FACTS soaked in as I READ the article.
6
posted on
04/29/2003 10:52:35 PM PDT
by
_Jim
(Guangdong doctor linked as source of SARS in China: http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030320/09/)
To: FairOpinion
This thing as others will not stop until everyone gets it or it accidentally mutates itself out of existence. IMHO
7
posted on
04/29/2003 10:56:17 PM PDT
by
Cold Heat
(Negotiate!! .............(((Blam!.)))........... "Now who else wants to negotiate?")
To: _Jim
Good! Headlines are always designed to get your attention and frequently exaggerate. The headlines I have trouble with are the ones that say the exact opposite of what the article says, and I have seen quite a few of those.
Not to mention some propositions on the California ballots, which have the same problem with trying to deliberately mislead.
This title hyped it up, but actually, as you found out, it is a small number. However, the fact that there is a relapse at all is not good, because those people could be continuing to spread the disease.
To: wirestripper
If possible, will you all please refer to post #30 made on the other SARS thread: UPDATE: SARS hits New York high school....I am desperately trying to obtain information on a currently unknown illness which has some commonalities to West Nile or SARS. Thanks.
To: FairOpinion
Relapses... Now there's Captain Trips...
10
posted on
04/29/2003 11:06:42 PM PDT
by
Axenolith
(But I still _feel_ free... maybe you should try shooting me again.)
To: _Jim
Relax. Not only does panic waste one's time, but it leaves its victims suseceptible to being soaked by words that only pretend to convey facts. What is a small number? And why is that number not given? Not timestamped? Not stated as a specific per cent of those who had been released at the time specified? In short, what are the facts? I see none given. I see adjectives being sent out to effect a calm in the minds of those who panic too easily. I'd prefer the facts.
11
posted on
04/29/2003 11:15:30 PM PDT
by
per loin
To: per loin
Relax. Not only does panic waste one's time ...DON'T you recognize well-written sarcasm?
Well, post #6 was intended to be just that ...
12
posted on
04/29/2003 11:18:03 PM PDT
by
_Jim
(Guangdong doctor linked as source of SARS in China: http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030320/09/)
To: _Jim
Yes, I do recognize well written sarcasm. Your point?
13
posted on
04/29/2003 11:20:47 PM PDT
by
per loin
To: FairOpinion
Hong Kong has recorded 1,572 cases of SARS and 150 of the patients have died. But 759 have recovered and been discharged. 16.5% mortality rate.
To: FairOpinion; Judith Anne; Mother Abigail; CathyRyan; per loin; Dog Gone; Petronski; InShanghai; ...
Bad news on survivors.
To: FairOpinion
I have a relapse after having the flu. I wasn't as sick nor did it last as long as the initial illness.
16
posted on
04/30/2003 4:35:50 AM PDT
by
Ditter
To: Ditter
have=had
17
posted on
04/30/2003 4:40:21 AM PDT
by
Ditter
To: per loin
Is there any way to correct your numbers for the relapses? If Hong Kong posts the total number of hospitalized SARS patients, perhaps it would be possible to compare your numbers with their numbers. The difference would presumably be the relapses.
If not, then we will be seeing an inflated number of released patients.
It is also possible that the relapses could be double counted as new cases, although the Hong Kong authorities would probably have kept these people out of the statistics.
18
posted on
04/30/2003 5:42:47 AM PDT
by
EternalHope
(Boycott everything French forever.)
To: per loin
CBS radio news an hour ago reported the number of relapses in Hong Kong were "about 10."
19
posted on
04/30/2003 6:03:10 AM PDT
by
Dog Gone
To: FairOpinion
If this is so, then they were not free of the virus when they were discharged.
20
posted on
04/30/2003 6:05:13 AM PDT
by
cynicom
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