Posted on 04/10/2003 6:50:14 AM PDT by CathyRyan
SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Singapore scientists were searching for the source of growing SARS infections at the nation's largest hospital on Thursday after a U.S. expert warned that the virus was probably in Asia to stay.
There are more questions than answers about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) because doctors are still collecting data about the virus that has spread across the world from southern China in months, infecting nearly 2,900 people and killing more than 100.
"I think we have to assume that the virus is in Asia to stay," said Dr Jim Hughes, head of infectious diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"In terms of its introduction into North America, whether it is here to stay I think remains to be seen but I think we should assume that it may well be."
The flu-like disease has hit 20 countries with at least 1,290 cases in China and 970 in Hong Kong, where a U.S. teacher was confirmed dead on Wednesday after arriving by ambulance from China.
The United States has 148 cases "under investigation" but has reported no deaths.
Singapore has the world's fourth-highest number of cases at 126, and the Ministry of Health reported its highest number of new infections in two weeks on Wednesday. Eight people were newly diagnosed with the illness -- five staff, one patient and one visitor at the sprawling Singapore General Hospital.
SARS has killed nine people in Singapore in two weeks, while 75 have recovered. A further 82 people are under observation suspected of catching it. Those seriously ill are also up, climbing by two on Wednesday to 14.
China's Health Ministry reported two more deaths on Thursday, taking the national toll to 55. But it added that four out of every five patients, more than 1,000 people, had recovered.
The ministry raised the number of cases in Beijing by three to 22. It says four people have died in Beijing.
NUMBERS CHALLENGED
Doctors have challenged the figures and one military physician told Reuters on Wednesday he knew of 140 cases and nine deaths at four Beijing military hospitals alone by Saturday.
In a rare case of public whistle-blowing in China, he broke ranks and accused the health minister of lying about the number of people in the capital Beijing infected with SARS.
The global death toll compares to a minimum of 250,000 deaths a year globally from influenza and its complications, but doctors are not ready to dismiss SARS because it can cause severe pneumonia that cannot be helped by drugs.
About four percent of patients die.
Once there is a test for the virus that causes the disease, doctors can find out how common it is, how infectious, and whether some people are more likely to spread it than others.
"We have more than 150 suspected SARS cases in the United States today. At the end of all this we'll be able to classify many of those into confirmed or not SARS categories," Hughes said in a telephone interview.
SCIENTISTS SEARCH
Scientists are working on a vaccine for SARS and are screening drugs to see if one can fight the virus. But they have warned that it takes years to develop a new vaccine.
Malaysia took the draconian step on Wednesday of banning all tourists from China to try to stop the spread of the disease and imposed restrictions on visitors from other places.
The Hong Kong Immigration Department said on Wednesday that Malaysia had imposed a temporary visa restriction on travelers from Hong Kong with effect from April 8.
The department said in a statement the ban covered Canada, Vietnam, China and Taiwan. Only businessmen and government officials with clean medical records would be given visas.
The illness has spread around the world through air travel.
Governments have imposed sweeping quarantine measures, closed schools and enforced rigorous airport screening of travelers. But the virus continues to spread, crippling the region's tourist industry and forcing airlines to slash flights to Asia. (With additional reporting by Jonathan Ansfield)
I wish the ignorant reporters who write these articles would try to learn something about the subject first.
For instance, SARS is NOT flu, nor is "flu-like" the proper comparison.
The best comparison is to severe pneumonia. Hence the name SARS: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
Are you an MD?
One rumor spreading around says the Chicoms were digging up corpses of victims of the 1917 flu pandemic, which killed 20 million people. In order to obtain samples of the virus (for use as a bioweapon?). And maybe it got away from them.
Just a rumor.
--Boris
That's one "Made In China" product you don't want!
Just a rumor.
The U.S. CDC states they are 99% certain the culprit is a new variant of the coronavirus family. The WHO has formally agreed. This viral family is responsible for about 30% of all colds. It is NOT flu.
The Chinese have announced they are 80% sure it is a variant of chlamydia (not the STD version). Chlamydia is weird kind of bacteria, not a virus.
Because China disagrees with the rest of the world on what we are fighting, many reporters simply say the culprit has not been identified. It is even possible that China had an outbreak of the pneumonia version of chlamydia that masked the beginning of SARS. Since China has consistently lied about SARS, and is thought to be lying even now, we simply cannot say for sure.
Bottom line: Their is no evidence whatsoever that this is biologically related to flu, including the Spanish flu of 1918. As you mentioned above, that is just a rumor.
If you want to pursue this line reasoning, however, there is abundant evidence that this virus is very different than its nearest cousins. This has caused internet speculation that it was bioengineered. That can not be disproved, but it is possible for a new virus to be this different due to solely natural causes.
If you want to know something a little more technical about what we are fighting, go here:
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