Posted on 05/03/2003 6:02:45 AM PDT by Lessismore
Recovered patients are given this advice after HK study shows they can harbour the Sars virus for at least a month after being discharged
DOCTORS in Hongkong are advising patients who have recovered from Sars to avoid hugging and kissing their loved ones for at least a month because there could still be traces of the virus in their bodies.
One person heeding this counsel is the chief of the Hospital Authority, Dr William Ho, 44, who resumed work on Wednesday after surviving a Sars attack. He said he dared not embrace or touch his children and wife out of fear that he could still be carrying the virus.
His fears are supported by a Hongkong University study that found traces of Sars in the stools and urine of recovered patients.
Dr Joseph Sung, head of the Department of Medicine at the Chinese University, said the virus could remain in patients' excreta for at least a month after they left the hospital.
Medical researchers are trying to ascertain for how long recovered patients might have been passing the virus out in their excreta.
Hongkong officials said earlier this week that 12 people who had recovered from Sars had suffered a relapse.
Apart from avoiding close contact, the health authorities are also advising family members not to share towels, cutlery and other personal items with Sars patients.
Meanwhile, attention in Hongkong is turning to financial aid for families affected by Sars deaths as well as recovered Sars patients.
On the initiative of four senior female government officials, about HK$3 million (S$700,000) have been raised to help 24 children, aged below 18, from 13 Sars-affected families. The children have lost either one or both parents to the infection. The authorities declined to say how many among them had been orphaned because of Sars.
Separately, the business sector has raised HK$17 million to help Sars victims and their families.
Mr Ho Hei Wah, spokesman for a patients' concern group, said: 'The government focused on help for businesses and the economy. It should do more for Sars victims and their families, instead of leaving such efforts in private hands.'
Hongkong is gradually returning to normalcy, two months into the outbreak. On Labour Day, more residents ventured out to shop and eat. Mr Yu Pang Chuen, president of the Hongkong Retail Management Association, said retail sales surged 10 per cent.
Researchers at the Chinese University said yesterday that Hongkong would not have remained Sars-free even if Professor Liu Jianlun - the Guangzhou doctor who transmitted the virus to several people at the Metropole Hotel in February before he died of Sars - had not visited the territory.
The scientists found more than one strain of the coronavirus, identified as the Sars virus, in patients in March. Professor Dennis Lo said this meant there were several Sars sources in the territory at that time.
Yesterday, the number of Sars cases here was put at 1,611, up by 11 cases. The death toll rose by eight to 170.
Meaning we don't know how long it stays. Rats with SDA continue to shed the virus for up to four months.
Tell me again, what is SDA?
Man facing court for quarantine offences
A Singapore man who may have been exposed to the Sars virus will appear in court - on a video screen - to face charges that he broke home quarantine orders, a police spokesman said.
Chua Hock Seng was being held in a jail cell. Police arrested him after he went out drinking twice, police spokesman Chua Chee Wai said.
He showed his quarantine order to customers in a coffee shop, sparking panic before he was taken away, The Straits Times newspaper reported.
Chua is among more than 3,000 Singapore residents quarantined in their homes because of possible exposure to Severe acute respiratory syndrome, which has killed at least 25 people and sickened more than 200 in the city-state of four million.
Chua, 50, will charged with breaking quarantine under tough new legislation aimed at curbing the spread of Sars. He could be fined 10,000 Singapore dollars (£3,766) and jailed six months if found guilty.
He has not shown Sars symptoms, but was reportedly quarantined after being in contact with people who had.
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong called Chua's actions "madness," the newspaper said.
Authorities have repeatedly said they would name - and shame - any quarantine breakers.
Singapore has enacted some of the strictest control measures among Sars-hit countries. People ordered to stay home are sometimes watched by cameras and tagged with electronic wrist bands.
© Associated Press
Story filed: 08:51 Saturday 3rd May 2003
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