Free Republic

CHINESE authorities have identified the patient who started the Sars epidemic that has killed at least 770 people around the world. Huang Xingchu, 36, a cook who prepared wild animal dishes in a restaurant in Shenzhen on the Hong Kong border, survived the infection, but now lives in hiding for fear of retribution. Medical experts believe that the Sars virus was passed from the civet cat, a favourite on menus around Hong Kong, to human beings. A restaurant kitchen or livestock market are the most likely places where this happened. The infected cook lost his job and many friends because...

Huang Xingchu, a chef in Heyuan County and well known for his expert preparation of exotic animals, is believed to be one of three Sars index patients in Guangdong who triggered the global outbreak of the killer disease. World Health Organisation (WHO) officials, who recently toured Guangdong, believe he could have got the disease from the animals he handled.However, 35-year-old Huang is not only alive and kicking, but he is back at his job as a chef for two big restaurants in Shenzhen, his father told Sing Tao Daily, sister paper of The Standard, when a reporter visited his hometown.Huang's...

After reviewing several case records, scientists yesterday said that the initial outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome may have erupted as early as November 2001, even though China claims its first SARS case was discovered just seven months ago. Dr. James Maguire, a team member from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention temporary based in Beijing, who traveled to Guangdong to investigate the SARS outbreak last month, said that the death of a Taiwanese man, Huang Hsuan-ping (À«Å¥), in Guangdong in January 2002 is the earliest suspected case of SARS now known. Maguire said Huang's case was crucial...

BEIJING - China has found that some people infected with Sars did not show any symptoms and were not infectious after their bodies developed antibodies to fight the disease, state media said. The findings by scientists in Heyuan city in southern China's Guangdong province adds further mystery to Sars, for which there is no known vaccine or cure. The China News Service (CNS) said scientists concluded that the disease can be symptomless after studying people who had come in contact with Heyuan's first Sars case, a man identified by only his surname Huang. Medical experts in Heyuan checked his family...