Skip to comments.
Seven victims of mystery pneumonia stayed on same floor of Hong Kong hotel
CBC ^
| 03-19-03
| Margret Wong
Posted on 03/19/2003 11:07:19 AM PST by Mother Abigail
Seven victims of mystery pneumonia stayed on same floor of Hong Kong hotel
01:47 PM EST Mar 19
MARGARET WONG
HONG KONG (AP) - Seven people who came down with a mysterious form of pneumonia, including two who have died, spent time on the same floor of a Hong Kong hotel before the outbreak prompted a global alert, officials said Wednesday.
One was a 64-year-old medical professor from Guangzhou, China, who died in Hong Kong on March 4, and one was a 78-year-old woman from Toronto, who died after returning to Canada, according to a Hong Kong government spokeswoman.
The other visitors of the Metropole Hotel who became sick were three Singaporean women, two of them age 23 and one 33; a 72-year-old Canadian man; and a 26-year-old Hong Kong man who had gone to the hotel to see a friend, said Dr. Margaret Chan, director of the Hong Kong Health Department.
The people had no known connection with each other and had apparently visited the Metropole, on Hong Kong's Kowloon peninsula, in separate groups or alone, said the government spokeswoman, who agreed to be interviewed only on the condition of anonymity. They had all been on the hotel's ninth floor between Feb. 12 and March 2, Chan told a news conference.
As many as 11 people are believed to have died worldwide from severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, but the World Health Organization has not yet decided whether to include the Chinese professor and another victim on its official list.
Two people who died in Canada are on the WHO list but it was not immediately clear if the Toronto woman who visited the Metropole was one of them. None of the 200 to 300 workers at the hotel has become ill and although conditions seem safe there now, the ninth floor has been closed until it is sterilized, Chan said.
TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: china; hongkong; metropolehotel; patientzero; sars; tinfoil
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-50 last
To: Domestic Church
I am thinking we are trying to piece a puzzle without all the pieces. Time will tell and I guess all we can do is wait and see.
To: All
We are able to confirm that the patient whose NPA [nasophayngeal aspirate] was found to contain paramyxovirus is a health care worker with SARS who was exposed to the index patient in the medical ward associated with the outbreak at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. Degenerated primer sets for paramyxoviruses were used in a RT-PCR [real-time polymerase chain reaction] in the patient's NPA. Multiple bands from the PCR product were sequenced. A sequence was found to be compatible to paramyxoviruses.
Subsequent application of this RT-PCR in specimens collected from three other health care workers who were exposed in the same medical ward and presenting symptoms of SARS showed similar bands. Sequencing of these PCR products are in progress.
To: All
In addition to finding paramyxovirus-like particles in throat swabs and sputum specimens from the doctor from Singapore and his mother-in-law currently treated in the isolation unit in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, similar structures have now been identified in the plasma of the mother-in-law.
Although further testing to confirm the finding of what could potentially constitute a novel paramyxovirus (as the presence of known human-pathogenic paramyxoviruses was largely ruled out by using a multitude of other tests) is urgently needed and under way in several laboratories, the detection of such particles in the blood might indicate active viremia and thus underline a potentially causative role for the agent.
To: All
Research teams at two laboratories, in Germany and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, have detected particles of a virus from the Paramyxoviridae family in samples taken from patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
This is the first major step forward in efforts to pinpoint the causative agent. Previous tests conducted in a number of top laboratories failed to detect the presence of any known bacteria or viruses, including the influenza viruses, recognized as causes of pneumonia or respiratory symptoms, or known to be widespread in the most affected geographical areas.
The failure of all previous efforts to detect the presence of bacteria and viruses known to cause respiratory disease strongly suggests that the causative agent may be a novel pathogen.
Firm conclusions about the identity of the causative agent are premature. All teams have stressed that these are preliminary results only. Further studies are needed before it can be concluded, with confidence, that the causative agent has been identified.
All research teams are participants in the international multicentre SARS research project, linking together 11 leading laboratories, that was set up on Monday 17 Mar 2003. Coordinated research is expected to expedite definitive identification of the causative agent.
The detection of paramyxovirus particles in samples from infected patients is the first lead to a possible cause of SARS and will be extremely important in focusing ongoing research. Definitive identification of the causative agent will help physicians move from the current "hit-or-miss" approach to treatment to a more precise selection of drugs with a greater prospect of cure.
Knowledge of the causative agent will also speed development of a diagnostic test and thus give physicians and national health authorities a powerful tool for the identification of cases. It will also reassure the many "worried well" now presenting at health facilities, and reduce the number of false alarms.
Update on countries and cases
As of Wednesday 19 Mar 2003, a cumulative total of 264 suspected or probable cases and 9 deaths have been reported from 10 countries (Canada, China, Germany Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Viet Nam). Hong Kong SAR, Hanoi (Viet Nam), and Singapore continue to be the most affected areas. Full details are provided in tabular form.
Awareness of the disease is now very high throughout the world. Surveillance is proving to be sensitive, with suspected cases rapidly detected, reported to national authorities and WHO, and investigated according to the standard case definition.
The Paramyxoviridae family
Viruses in the Paramyxoviridae family include many common, well-known agents associated with respiratory infections, such as respiratory syncytial virus, and childhood illnesses, including the viruses that cause mumps and measles. Some of these viruses are widespread, particularly during the winter season. Screening of specimens could therefore be expected to detect particles of these common viruses. At this point, it cannot be ruled out entirely that tests for the SARS agent are detecting such "background" viruses rather than the true causative agent.
The Paramyxoviridae family also includes two recently recognized pathogens, Hendra virus and Nipah virus. These related viruses are unusual in the family in that they can infect and cause potentially fatal disease in a number of animal hosts, including humans. Most other viruses in the family tend to infect a single animal species only.
Nipah virus first began to cause deaths in humans in Peninsular Malaysia in 1998 in persons in close contact with pigs. The outbreak caused 265 cases of human encephalitis, including 105 deaths. Two separate outbreaks of Hendra virus, associated with severe respiratory disease in horses, caused two human deaths in Australia in 1994 and 1995. No human-to-human transmission was documented in either outbreak. No treatment was available for cases caused by either of these two viruses. Human-to-human transmission did not occur.
To: All
In addition, we have also included information from the Singapore Ministry of Health website mentioning that a paramyxovirus has been preliminarily identified from patient(s?) in Singapore. While specifics on the testing used in Singapore are not available in the MOH press release, this is now the third location to preliminarily identify paramyxovirus from specimens taken from SARS patients.
Once a viral agent has been identified and confirmed from multiple patients, in multiple geographic locations and specific tests for the virus have been developed, more of the suspected cases of SARS can be tested to see if they have evidence of recent infection with the identified virus. This "step-wise" process is important to confirm that the agent is in fact the agent responsible for SARS. - Mod.MPP]
[Evidence is accumulating that the etiologic agent of SARS is a paramyxovirus. The report from Germany suggests that known paramyxovirus pathogens of humans have been excluded. The report from Hong Kong is rather vague and difficult to evaluate in the absence of precise information on the nature of the PCR-primers employed or the identity of the product sequenced. The limited evidence available at present suggests that the putative agent of SARS is a novel paramyxovirus rather than a known paramyxovirus exhibiting atypical pathogenicity.
A variety of novel paramyxoviruses have been characterized in recent years, some of which have been listed in my comment to "PRO/EDR> Severe acute respiratory syndrome
To: Mother Abigail
Thank God this is turning out to be NOT as bad as we first imagined. Seems like the Hong Kong authorities are doing a good job of containment. Like I said, THANK GOD!
To: Mother Abigail
"The limited evidence available at present suggests that the putative agent of SARS is a novel paramyxovirus rather than a known paramyxovirus exhibiting atypical pathogenicity."
Time to read between the lines.
I am assuming hendra/nipah has been explicitly ruled out since they have been known for 5 years now. Nipah appeared to be 50% down the tubes...nasty enough on it's own.
47
posted on
03/19/2003 4:55:44 PM PST
by
Domestic Church
(AMDG...attempting to maintain calm about novel pathogens on the brink of war)
To: Domestic Church
From the horse virus thread:
"As a result of work at AAHL since the outbreak in 1994, regional veterinary laboratories and hospitals around Australia now have an ELISA diagnostic test. Other tests developed include an immunoperoxidase test for use on formalin-fixed tissue, virus isolation, and virus neutralisation tests to detect antibodies."
Hendra and Nipah aren't novel paramyxoviri.
To: Domestic Church
Second possible case of mystery illness in Los Angeles County
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - A second possible case of severe acute respiratory syndrome has been identified in the county, health officials said Wednesday.
The latest person to fall ill is a relative of the patient first suspected of having the disease here, said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County director of public health. The illness of the initial patient was reported on Monday.
The first patient became sick March 11, several days after visiting China, Hong Kong and Vietnam, Fielding said. The second fell ill a week after the relative's return.
The latest patient recovered after a brief illness that required an overnight hospital stay, Fielding said. The original patient had also been hospitalized but was "doing well," Fielding added. No further details were immediately available
To: All
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-50 last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson