SARS REACHES HONG KONG SCHOOLS - 32 NEW CASES (IS THE BUG OUT OF THE BOX?)

CHANNEL NEWS ASIA ^ | 03-21-03 | AMY OR

[Mother Abigail]

21 March 2003 2046 hrs (SST) 1246 hrs (GMT)

32 more victims infected with SARS in Hong Kong 

By Amy Or

The Hong Kong government says it has contained the atypical pneumonia virus in the territory, but 32 more people have fallen victim to the deadly virus. The suspension of accident and emergency services at the Prince of Wales Hospital continues for another week.

The decision came after eight more healthcare personnel there fell sick with atypical pneumonia. This brings the total number struck by the virus to 197.

"We've contained the spread among primary contacts, trying to contain secondary contacts," said Yeoh Eng-kiong, Hong Kong's secretary for health, welfare and food.

China has repeatedly refused to link local cases of the outbreak to its southern Guangdong province. But the World Health Organization says preliminary studies confirm such a connection.

It has been confirmed that children are also victims of the illness.

One school on Hong Kong island had sent a Secondary 2 student to hospital as she showed flu-like symptoms. It was later found that her mother was also sick with atypical pneumonia.

Six students from four other schools have been hospitalized.

In the face of the increasing number of students suspected or confirmed to have contracted the disease, the Education Department has issued guidelines on preventive measures and is updating parents on the situation.

And officials held a briefing to 200 teachers in the territory, reminding them to report any abnormalities.

[Mother Abigail]

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong, fearing a killer pneumonia virus was spreading among schoolchildren, shut a school on Friday and said three others would be disinfected over the weekend, a government spokesman said.

 "Now that the virus is in schools, this may just explode. Schools are so congested and children don't know how to take precautions. If they even suspect an infection, they must close the schools," said one mother, Olivia Lo.

Hong Kong's health chief Yeoh Eng-Kiong said six children were now infected in the territory, up from five on Thursday.

[Mother Abigail]

A number of concerns

1. Most of the posters on these threads understand what it means for the virus to enter the schools,

2. What is happening in China?

3. What do we do when it reaches the underdeveloped countries that do not have strict isolation, barrier nursing, and antivirals?

4. Why are we not hearing of more hospital releases of recovered patients?

[freeperfromnj]

Possible Rhode Island Case

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030321_1246.html

[CathyRyan]

I think I am going to have to draw up a network chart to keep track.

[aristeides]

WHO may have isolated SARS agent .

[aristeides]

Pity Hong Kong didn't shut its schools before now. Let's hope they do it now.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Still not as deadly as the Four Corners Hantavirus (about 50%), although it seems easier to spread.

[Black Agnes]

I don't think that >50% of those infected have recovered as yet. Isn't it still close to 100% fatal for those infected?

[Mother Abigail]

HK is fighting a PR war, and losing. The steps that need to be undertaken now are severe and economically disastrous. Hope someone gets some courage up soon.

Again, it is the closed society of China that worries me.

[aristeides]

HK is fighting a PR war, and losing.

Just like in Death in Venice.

[Mother Abigail]

GENEVA, Switzerland, March 21

(UPI) -- World Health Organization officials said Friday they may have isolated the infectious agent responsible for the global SARS outbreak.

"We may have grown, but are not sure, the infectious agent that causes the disease," WHO spokesman Dick Thompson told United Press International.

Researchers "have grown in cell cultures an infectious agent but we don't know exactly what it is," Thompson said.

The agent might be a new member of the paramyxoviridae family of viruses, which includes diseases such as mumps and measles, he said. However, it also might be something that looks like a paramyxo virus, he noted.

Further experiments seemed to confirm the researchers had isolated the culprit responsible for the SARS outbreak that has infected as many as 350 people worldwide and killed 10.

Researchers exposed the agent to blood from recovering patients and found the agent died, indicating the patients had developed antibodies to it. Blood from healthy people did not kill the agent.

WHO officials are still conducting additional tests to conclusively identify the pathogen, Thompson said.

"This is just another step down the road but it's a good step," he said. "It may mean we could soon develop a diagnostic test and that would be a huge step forward."
Authorities still are trying to determine which treatments are most effective against the agent. "It's a confused picture still but we are trying to straighten out," Thompson said.

Thanks for link...

[Mother Abigail]

FYI

Paramyxo viruses are a group of enveloped RNA viruses whose members have been shown to cause animal and human infection.

Several new viruses belonging to this family Paramyxo virus have been isolated in Australia since 1994. This includes the Hendra virus.

[CathyRyan]

Looking at the HK numbers I am not buying the 305 number any more. It just does not make sense. imho

[Judith Anne]

Lots of viruses can be treated but not cured.

Like, rabies, measles, mumps...

I share your concern. Definitely.

[Black Agnes]

...smallpox, HIV, cold, ...

[Judith Anne]

Yep. I agree with Cathy Ryan, the HK numbers are waaaaayyy out of date.

[Black Agnes]

Yup. And, way out of line for what we'd see for this at this point in time. This is starting to scare me. Especially now that it's in KANSAS.

[Mother Abigail]

Bogus, bogus, bogus,

Do you think the people from N.Y. city, R.I., Australia, New Mexico, etc. all had close contact with this very small subset of infected Hong Kong citizens.

The data will not support the facts. What seems more and more likely is that there is a large reservoir of pathogen in the Hong Kong area, being passed in close proximity via airborne droplets.

How large the real set of carriers is? Pick a number

[Mother Abigail]

Possible Case of Mystery Illness in N. Virginia Friday March 21,

Northern Virginia now has a possible case of that mystery illness that has already killed ten people.

The state health department says a young adult from Loudoun County is one of three possible Virginia cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The flu-like illness is believed to have started in China, and all of the Virginia patients have recently come back from Asia.

The other two cases in the commonwealth are in Chesapeake and central Virginia.

[CathyRyan]

Just wait for it to get into the illegal asian population in the US.