Beijing Said to Conceal Extent of Disease

Washington Post ^ | April 16, 2003 | John Pomfret

[sarcasm]

BEIJING, April 15 -- The Beijing city government is significantly underreporting both the incidence of severe acute respiratory syndrome in China's capital and the role Beijing plays as a new source of the disease's spread, Chinese doctors said today.

Knowledgeable sources in the city government said authorities fear the World Health Organization will add Beijing to its list of destinations to avoid if the real number of SARS cases is reported. That would further erode tourism and business travel, already damaged by the outbreak of the sometimes-fatal illness.

< SNIP >

Meanwhile, there were further reports that the disease was spreading in China. The southeastern province of Fujian reported its first cases today, and more were reported in Guangdong. Shanxi province -- one of the first areas to report SARS cases, traced to travelers from Guangdong -- has reported 82 new cases since March. Western medical specialists said the disease was likely now present in every Chinese province.

[konaice]

So when is the press going to get up enough nerve to report that the true source of this outbreak was China's bio weapons programs ???

Deadly diseases like this don' spring up out of nowhere....

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[Allan]

ping

[this_ol_patriot]

Deadly diseases like this don' spring up out of nowhere....

I don't know the source of this disease but I heard a radio show where a scientist said that every time a virus mutates there is a small chance that it will produce something that is 100% lethal to the human race. Don't know how factual that is but it sounds scary.

[Fishing-guy]

I read somewhere that all the flu viruses that we get every year are some new mutated versions of influenza virus. That is why we have to get new flu immunization shots every year.

I guess it is possible that we could eventually have one of those viruses develop into a more deadly version. Then again, the flu kills over 30,000 Americans every year. That's pretty deadly.

I suspect we will eventually develop a vaccine for SARS, as soon as we figure out which pathogen is responsible for it.