Free Republic

UN Warns of Worldwide Threat from Killer Pneumonia Sat March 15, 2003 11:21 AM ET By Richard Waddington GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization warned on Saturday of a worldwide health threat as a mystery killer pneumonia spread from east Asia to other parts of the globe. Releasing a rare "emergency travel advisory," the United Nations health agency said an ill passenger had been taken to an isolation unit in Frankfurt, Germany, on Saturday after being removed from a plane en route from New York to Singapore. Some 155 other passengers who had been due to change planes or...

Ninth person dies of mystery disease as WHO warns world heath threat spread by air travel By MARGIE MASON HANOI, Vietnam (AP): A ninth person has died of a mystery form of pneumonia that the World Health Organization says cannot be stopped by standard drugs and is being spread across the globe by international air travelers. In a rare emergency warning, Geneva-based WHO described the fast-acting, highly contagious disease as "a worldwide health threat.'' It first struck China's southern Guangdong province in January when five people died. In recent days about 150 infections had been reported in Asia, Europe and...

Breaking News: World Alert on Mystery Disease (Broke 1 Hour Ago in Australia) THE World Health Organisation has issued a rare emergency travel warning that a mysterious form of pneumonia poses a worldwide health threat. The disease, known as atypical pneumonia, which has killed four people and hospitalised scores of others, is spreading from Asia around the world. Most outbreaks of the highly contagious illness have been reported this past week in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam. In the latest fatality, a Vietnamese nurse died at the weekend after having earlier treated an American businessman who also died of the...

Health officials have issued a global warning about a virulent flu and pneumonia that has swept through hospitals in Hong Kong and Vietnam.One man has died, dozens of hospital workers have fallen ill, and some of these are reportedly in a critical condition. The precise origin of the infection is still unknown, but the key case involved an American businessman who died on Thursday morning in a Hong Kong hospital. He had arrived into Hanoi in Vietnam from Shanghai on a business trip already suffering from severe respiratory problems. When his condition deteriorated, he was transferred to Hong Kong for...