China reports suspected SARS case

The Courier-Mail ^ | 12/26/03 | news.com.au

[leu25iso]

A PATIENT in a hospital in southern China is being treated as a suspected case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

"This suspected case has been reported to the health ministry," an official of the Guangdong provincial health bureau said today.

"The ministry has to now send specialists to determine if it is indeed a SARS case."

The patient is in hospital in Guangzhou city.

[leu25iso]

SARS, right on schedule

[ConservativeMan55]

Not again!

Geez! With all the viruses and terrorists and earthquakes and mudslides you'd think the world was close to coming to an end!

[Judith Anne]

Actually, I was worried that SARS would make its appearance before Thanksgiving, so if it is confirmed, this would be later than I originally feared.

[camas]

it is day by day have a good year

[ConservativeMan55]

LOL...thanks. I will.

[leu25iso]

Actually, its right on schedule. You can be pretty sure that China wold not be reporting this unless they were pretty sure, so my guess is this patient was exposed several weeks ago and of course if the exposure was to another patient, then SARS would have begun about the same time as last year, which was in the middle of November.

[Judith Anne]

Yes...I guess you're right...I went to the original article and found no mention of anything about people being quarantined...hope that's not because it's way out of the box already...

PS, thanks for posting...

[Domestic Church]

Ready for the SARs yoyo again?

[leu25iso]

My guess is that they have one positive lab result and are waiting for a second. If this truly is a new SARS case, the comparing the sequence of this outbreak to last year will go a long way toward pinpointing the natural reservoir as well as the molecular evolution of the virus.

One the other hand. If the virus is already heavily mutated, then cases will start showing up "spontaneously" around the world.

[Judith Anne]

Have y'all seen this? I'm just pinging you FYI, please let the others know...I've forgotten so many on the list...

[dc-zoo]

Let's just hope it remains isolated in china this time.

[blam]

Boo...SARS bump.

[Domestic Church]

SARs ping!

[Flavius]

they should just lay of the squirrels already
stop eating the pets too...

[leu25iso]

As suspected, the patient, Luo, was admitted Dec 20, so I suspect he has already tested positive. He is not a member of the medical profession, and emergency measures have been instituted, including the wearing of masks by patients.

[leu25iso]

Let's just hope it remains isolated in china this time.

I wouldn't be surpised if it was out already. The chances that this patient is the first this season is probably very low.

WHO had already indicated that they were willing to miss the first cases because they were worried about false positives.

I suspect they will have much more to worry about.

[leu25iso]

China has already held an emergency meeting on Friday, but isn't commenting to media. However, they have notified Hong Kong, so the case seems more and more real by the minute.

If the patient was admitted Dec 20, there should already be an initial positive, which is further supported by an emergency meeting and notification of Hong Kong on Dec 26.

I will be EXTREMELY surprised if this case doesn't end up being SARS and I will also be surprised if it ends up being the first case of SARS this season.

Civets are available, and they almost certainly transmitted SARS to humans last year, and there really is little known reason why they wouldn't do the same this year.

The timely appearance this year, also suggested that the rapid disappearance last year was aided by seasonal factors.

[leu25iso]

More details in NY Times article

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1047167/posts

[Judith Anne]

I agree with what you posted--I too would be surprised if this is the first case in China. I admit I was whistling in the dark, thinking it might not return this year. We may see a more aggressive face to SARS....