Fear spreads in China over mystery lung virus

The Times ^ | February 12, 2003 | Oliver August

[MadIvan]

A girl wearing a surgical mask at a railway station in southern China, where panic has spread over an unidentified virus

CHEMISTS and stores have been swamped by people in parts of southern China fearing a mystery lung virus. Some people were wearing surgical mask in the streets, despite doctors insisting that rumours were unnecessarily fanning public fears.

About 300 people were in hospital with pneumonia caused by the virus, one-third of them doctors, nurses and other health workers, an official of the provincial Disease Prevention and Control Centre said.

But doctors said that so far only five people had died and not the hundreds suggested by residents in Guangdong Province near Hong Kong.

“The disease is under control. It’s not as serious as the rumours said. The priority now is to figure out what caused it,” a doctor at the No 1 Hospital of the Guangzhou Medical School said. “We did not realise it was a serious epidemic, so we did not take it seriously at the beginning.”

Shoppers cleared stores of antibiotics and queued to pay inflated prices for vinegar, which many Chinese use as a disinfectant.

The panic also affected regional stock exchanges, with shares of drug companies rising, outdone only by a few vinegar-makers.

The identity of what is believed to be a virus linked to pneumonia is still not known. Leading Communist Party officials in Guangdong Province yesterday ordered an emergency team of experts to start a belated fight against the illness, which was first detected two months ago.

Governments in Hong Kong and Macau have also pleaded with residents not to panic, a likely response as the region has repeatedly been struck by deadly viruses in recent years.

Southern China is a significant source of new strains of influenza and other viruses that are often traced to the poultry industry. Bird flu in Hong Kong in 1997 killed six people and prompted the slaughter of all of its 1.4 million chickens.

Chemists and traditional Chinese herbal medicine stores reported dwindling stocks in Hong Kong as the rumours from Guangdong quickly spread. But Yeoh Engkiong, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Health and Welfare, said that there was no evidence that it was affecting the city. Neither pneumonia nor influenza cases had increased, he said. Nonetheless, television showed residents queuing for vinegar.

The Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical Corporation said that it had sent hundreds of boxes of anti-flu medication to pharmacies and hospitals since Saturday and was working around the clock to meet demand.

Anti-inflammatory medicines were also selling briskly. “They’re almost completely out of stock,” the Xinhua state news agency said. The agency discounted reports that the virus was related to anthrax.

[Barnacle]

“The disease is under control. It’s not as serious as the rumours said. The priority now is to figure out what caused it,”

Living with pigs may something to do with it. I’m not being derogatory here folks. I heard that most influenza is the result of people living with pigs in China. What a country!

Mystery Lung Virus. – Coming to a country near you.

[canuck_conservative]

"Southern China is a significant source of new strains of influenza and other viruses that are often traced to the poultry industry."

True. Virtually every flu outbreak in the West comes from southern China, because of their sloppy hygiene - pig and poultry farms' feces mixing with the local drinking water. Add in the warm, humid local climate, and you have a perfect bug-breeding ground.

And you can safely assume just about every flight from Hong Kong is basically a direct courier bringing all these diseases to our countries.

[spectre]

Yep.

sw

[xm177e2]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Chinese gov't was lying, and the rumors were true. But I wouldn't be shocked if the rumors were exaggerated, either.

[valkyrieanne]

From the article: Shoppers cleared stores of antibiotics...

Now we know where all these antibiotic-resistant strains are coming from.

[Billy_bob_bob]

I really wish that the Chinese government would dedicate itself to providing basic sanitation to ALL of the people of China, and not just the coastal regions and the largest cities. If they can afford to build a nuclear deterrant and pay for a manned space program, then by golly they can afford to put flush toilets and sewers or septic tanks in every home in China.

Their current sanitary practices are enough to make a westerner gag just thinking about it, let alone having to experience it. And of course, the human/pig/duck cycle currently enabled by their lack of sanitary practices in the rural regions is what makes those nifty new flus available to the world every year. Ever wonder why they don't have the "Cleveland flu"?

[Billy_bob_bob]

Yikes! Excellent point!

[Enemy Of The State]

No, in fact the story is true. I spoke with my fiance yesterday as I do everyday and she told me that in the past 2 days there had been 12 people die of this "mysterious virus", two of them being doctors. Today she said that there were estimated to be around 70 some doctors infected by this virus, more have already died.

By the way, she lives in Guangzhou, where the virus was believed to have broken out.

Early reports stated that they believed it was a bacterial virus that plagued HK back in 1997, which is said to have come from certain types of poultry. ( Avian Influenza) However, later that theory was dismissed.

When she went out ot buy vinegar (which they boil in their homes to sterilzie the air) she paid only 5RMB but later people were paying as much as 20 or more. (normal price is about 1.4 RMB) I guess there are no shortage of capitalists there....

[DAnconia55]

Shoppers cleared stores of antibiotics

China is more free in some way than the US or UK.

We can't buy Antibiotics over the counter.

[JudyB1938]

My son-in-law's job puts him in the position that he has first-hand knowledge of sanitation practices of Asian restaurants. He said if people knew what went on in those kitchens, they'd NEVER eat in one.

With that in mind, I can see how we could very well have an epidemic of our own - from that one source alone.

[SkyRat]

Minor update:

Of the total number affected by the disease 59 have recovered and left hospital.

http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/wed/feb12w30.htm

[StriperSniper]

a fellow in the US who caught a strange kind of pneumonia from bacteria in his hot tub

He probably needs to hang out with a better class of women.

;-)

[deziner]

Has anyone noticed that the little girl in the pic does not have the mask over the nose? Won't do her any good if she breathes through her nose.

[deziner]

Ah - I see you noticed it too! ;-)

[tallhappy]

Supposedly 280 dead. Many medical staff infected.

link

[Enemy Of The State]

i think that is as every bit as exaggerated as the Chicom govt, trying to say that its under control. Would you like to try that bogus link again?

[tallhappy]

Would you like to try that bogus link again?

What do you mean?

[tallhappy]

Bump.

This is the SARS.

Apparently the Washington Post sees it as news that it is from China.

[aristeides]

I wonder if there's any way to find out how many people have died of this in China, and what the mortality rate is.

[CathyRyan]

My fear of getting this is not so much dying as getting the hospital bill.