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Sick tanker crew headed for SARS-hit Hong Kong
Reuters ^ | May 3, 2003

Posted on 05/03/2003 10:04:25 AM PDT by Dog Gone

HONG KONG, May 3 (Reuters) - A chemical tanker with 10 of its 24-member crew suspected of having contracted SARS has sought urgent permission to anchor in Hong Kong for medical help, a senior government official said on Saturday.

Hong Kong's government gave the go-ahead and the Malaysian-flagged tanker Bunga Melawis Satu was expected to be in Hong Kong waters on Sunday morning, Health Director Margaret Chan told a news conference.

The vessel left Thailand on April 28, and 10 of its 24 crews -- all reported to be of Indian origin -- were ill with fever, coughs and bodyaches, which are among the flu-like symptoms of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

Chan said one of them was seriously sick.

"The shipmaster suspects that his crew might have contracted SARS, but of course the symptoms are also found in other infectious diseases. At this stage, we cannot make any judgment based on the information at hand," Chan said.

Hong Kong officials had no other details. They did not know how or where the sick crew members contracted their illnesses.

The vessel is now in international waters and estimated to be more than 100 nautical miles southwest of Hong Kong, a government source said.

It will dock in Hong Kong waters around 8 a.m. on Sunday (midnight GMT Saturday) and doctors from the territory will board the tanker to check if the 10 sick crews may have contracted SARS.

"Those who are suspected of having SARS will be brought on land to hospital, and those who are fine will be quarantined on board the ship," a Health Department spokesman told Reuters.

The ship, which had been in Singapore and a few other places before leaving Thailand, was originally bound for the southern Chinese port of Guangzhou on mainland China, he added.

SARS is caused by a new, rapidly-mutating member of the corona family of viruses and the disease has been brought around the globe by air travellers over the last two months. Corona viruses are behind the common cold.

More than 6,500 people from some 30 countries have contracted the disease and 436 of them have died since it first emerged in southern China in November.




TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hongkong; india; sars
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1 posted on 05/03/2003 10:04:25 AM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: Dog Gone
Well there goes the "Indians have special immunity, India need have no fears of SARS" perspective (courtesy of the Indian government.)
2 posted on 05/03/2003 10:41:30 AM PDT by dark_lord (The Statue of Liberty now holds a baseball bat and she's yelling 'You want a piece of me?')
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To: per loin; Mother Abigail; Dog Gone; Petronski; riri; EternalHope; Domestic Church; aristeides; ...
ping
3 posted on 05/03/2003 11:02:00 AM PDT by CathyRyan
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To: Dog Gone
The vessel left Thailand on April 28, and 10 of its 24 crews -- all reported to be of Indian origin -- were ill with fever, coughs and bodyaches, which are among the flu-like symptoms of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

Thailand, India?

4 posted on 05/03/2003 11:14:58 AM PDT by Nov3
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To: Nov3
Some sort of rent-a-crew, I guess. The ship itself is Malaysian.
5 posted on 05/03/2003 11:16:42 AM PDT by Dog Gone
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To: Dog Gone
"Some sort of rent-a-crew, I guess. The ship itself is Malaysian."

Yup. Very common.

6 posted on 05/03/2003 12:24:56 PM PDT by blam
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To: Dog Gone
Given the distances involved we could be talking Sinpore as the source of this ship's SARS. The question is did they bring the infection to Tailand also?
7 posted on 05/03/2003 12:53:54 PM PDT by harpseal (Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown)
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To: Dog Gone
As the endless lines of jumbo jets are lined up from Asia to America, on approach to an airport near you.....
8 posted on 05/03/2003 12:55:57 PM PDT by Joe Hadenuf (i)
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To: Joe Hadenuf
So if its bio-warfare, the terrorists once again succeed in utilizing our airline industry against us. I suppose sars is biowar, either intentional or naturally occuring. Either way, its war.
9 posted on 05/03/2003 1:10:38 PM PDT by dc-zoo
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To: dark_lord
Maybe they have a longer incubation though. When did this ship arrive in Thailand and where was it before Thailand?
10 posted on 05/03/2003 1:59:58 PM PDT by Domestic Church (AMDG... I keep thinking of all the American Docs and Nurses)
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To: dark_lord
Truthfully, I don't think that any particular genetic group is going to have any special immunity.
11 posted on 05/03/2003 3:15:06 PM PDT by Judith Anne
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To: Judith Anne
"Truthfully, I don't think that any particular genetic group is going to have any special immunity."

That's my opinion also.

12 posted on 05/03/2003 5:57:19 PM PDT by blam
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To: Dog Gone; aristeides; Judith Anne; riri; CathyRyan; Shermy; blam
The ship "Bunga Melawis Satu" is owned by "Maylasian International Shipping Company -MISC",which is owned by "Petronas"which is owned by the Government of Maylasia.

It has complete control over the gas and oil of Maylasia.

Petronas has hundreds of subsidiaries all over the world,including joint ventures in America, Viet Nam, etc.

Petronas owns The Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

Their are Binny boy terrs in Maylasia.

So do we now have three ships with dead /and or sick guys?

Any connections?

Nicholas Brady, an ex Treasurer of the US is on the board of Armerada Hess,which is in business with Petronas.

Any thoughts?
13 posted on 05/03/2003 9:29:39 PM PDT by Betty Jo
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To: Betty Jo
Oy gevalt! (As my sainted Jewish mother used to say, may she rest in peace...)
14 posted on 05/03/2003 9:32:56 PM PDT by Judith Anne
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To: Betty Jo
"So do we now have three ships with dead /and or sick guys? "

Three ships? I've only heard about one.

15 posted on 05/03/2003 9:36:59 PM PDT by blam
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To: Judith Anne
How do you spell Oy Veugh! ?

I cant get the url to work ,but on Google news there is a new article from Japan talking about compulsory hospitalization of SARS victims.
16 posted on 05/03/2003 9:39:33 PM PDT by Betty Jo
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To: blam
This one, that first one ,the WadiAl Arab,and the other one yesterday ,with the Bulgarian Todor Nadrev Petrov.
17 posted on 05/03/2003 9:42:33 PM PDT by Betty Jo
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To: Betty Jo
Oy vey! ;-D
18 posted on 05/03/2003 9:49:06 PM PDT by Judith Anne
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To: blam
I haven't entirely bought in to the genetic immunity link, but I have to say that my wife, who was born and raised in Mumbai (Bombay), practically never gets sick here. This is even though I not infrequently get pretty severe "Norwalk" type GI bugs. My mother catches them from me at the drop of a hat, and me from her, but my wife, never! And she doesn't get flu shots and never gets the flu.

We had an East Indian grocery here in the states a few years ago. I noticed that the customers were not prone to getting ill with common infectious diseases, although sinus problems were common, and the older ones tended to have heart conditions.

If you listen to some of the stories from people who have grown up in a third-world country it is not difficult to believe they have developed immunity to a broad spectrum of communicable disease (they certainly get sick when home). If you couple that with the (tentative) finding that they have or don't have (I can't remember which) a gene that diminishes the hyper-autoimmune response seen in SARS, maybe they do have something going for them.

I wonder if the ship had, say 24 Norwegians, how many would be sick?

19 posted on 05/03/2003 9:52:24 PM PDT by steve86
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To: per loin; Mother Abigail; Dog Gone; Petronski; riri; EternalHope; Domestic Church; aristeides
I wonder if the ship had, say 24 Norwegians, how many would be sick?

Sorry, I meant to ping these people on my last post about the hypothesized Indian immunity...

20 posted on 05/03/2003 10:00:38 PM PDT by steve86
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