Hong Kong toddler dies from anthrax

Yahoo News ^ | June 10, 2003 | AFP

[FairOpinion]

HONG KONG (AFP) - A two-year-old boy has died in Hong Kong after contracting anthrax, the government said.

Although there was no indication yet of the source of the infection, there was no evidence the boy was the victim of a bioterror attack, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

"There is no evidence that this was a biological attack," Department of Health consultant Dr Tse Lai-yin told reporters.

Tse said health officials are investigating the source of the boy's illness, and that his family neither kept pets, nor did he recently come into contact with any animals -- a common form of transmission.

His symptoms and a post-mortem showed he most likely got sick from eating "contaminated food or some other object."

"We suspect he consumed uncooked contaminated meat as the source" since the boy's diet consisted mainly of pork and fish, Tse said.

The boy began displaying symptoms of anthrax -- abdominal pains, vomitting and diarrhoea -- on May 27 and died May 30 in hospital after slipping into a coma, she said.

"It was most definitely not inhaled," she said, adding that doctors only diagnosed the cause of the boy's death as anthrax on Tuesday.

Members of the boy's family, who have been put under medical observation, have not shown any similar symptoms, Tse said. She also said the illness doesn't appear to have spread to anyone else the boy might have come into contact with, including other pupils and teachers at his nursery.

"This is a sporadic case so far but we have to investigate further," Tse said.

Inhalable anthrax ground into powder form was delivered in letters to media outlets in the United States in late 2001 sparking fears of a bioterror attack following the September 11 terror attacks.

"We are concerned by this case because anthrax is a very rare disease in Hong Kong," Tse said.

According to the Department of Health, there has only been three other cases of anthrax reported in the territory in the past 20 years.

Two cases occured in 1982, and the last fatality was a 13-year-old boy who succumbed to the disease in 1994, she said.

The anthrax case has emerged just as Hong Kong is getting over an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS (news - web sites)), which has killed 290 people in the territory in the past three months and inflicted huge economic damage.

But Tse said area hospitals had been alerted to the anthrax death, and that there was no need for a wider emergency response system to be implemented.

"We just need the public to maintain good personal hygiene and make sure their food is cooked very very well," she said, adding that there was no need for the public to fear a larger outbreak of anthrax.

[FairOpinion]

"We are concerned by this case because anthrax is a very rare disease in Hong Kong," Tse said.

West Nile Virus, SARS, Monkey Pox, now anthrax...

[FairOpinion]

Ping

[FairOpinion]

Here is an update:

Anthrax Kills Boy in HK, Not Terror Attack
Reuters to My Yahoo!

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Anthrax killed a two-year-old boy in Hong Kong last month but the government has ruled out a terror attack, a health department official said on Tuesday.

"The boy probably ate some contaminated food," the official told Reuters. "Such an infection is extremely rare and we are still trying to find out the cause."

The boy fell ill with a stomach ache, vomiting and fever, and was admitted to hospital late May where he died soon after.

The official said such an infection last occurred in Hong Kong in 1994, when anthrax killed a 13-year-old boy through suspected food contamination.

Anthrax exists in the form of spores in soil for a long time and is usually associated with diseases in cattle and sheep.

However, microbiologist John Tam told Reuters that it is rare for humans to get infected with anthrax in a natural environment.

Anthrax, which manifests itself in skin form and a sometimes fatal lung infection, can be cured if caught early with antibiotics.

Anthrax powder was used in a series of letter attacks in the United States in 2001 that killed five people and it was developed into biological weapons by many governments, including the United States, Japan and the former Soviet Union.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=751&e=2&u=/nm/20030610/hl_nm/anthrax_boy_dc

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Sounds like they are under seige.

[riri]

ping.

I am getting closer and closer to your side of the fence.

[blackdog]

Don't they cook food in Hong Kong? How do you get anthrax from cooked meat? It's almost like China is spilling over with unintended biological consequences of state programs to manufacture some bad bugs.

[FairOpinion]

"It's almost like China is spilling over with unintended biological consequences of state programs to manufacture some bad bugs. "

---

It could well be. Russian didn't admit when they had an accidental release of anthrax, until some 30 years later, and they also had some suspected accidental release of a virulent form of smallpox, where someone who was on a ship nearby got it and died, even though they had been vaccinated against smallpox.

[Betty Jo]

I am getting closer to my side of the fence too.

Even though I believe everything I post,I do so want to be proven wrong.

Taking long slow looks at it all seems so obvious to me.

Apart from the initial embedding of the terrs in the medical matrix which cost a lot of $$$$$$,all these diseases are being very cheaply and undetectably spread.

No one seems to be on top of it.

Tommy Thompson was on Neil Cavuto on FOX this afternoon,saying that the gov cant find any causal relationship from the terrs to SARS or monkeypox.

Shock and awe.

[cgk]

ping

[aristeides]

What are people on the anthrax board saying about this case?

[Shermy]

BTW, Tinkerbelle story is not true, as reported in the ABC article last night. That was quite a flight of fancy! Also in that article was the only statement that I've seen that Hatfill was on Cipro. I doubt the story because if anything the investigators would release, that would be it!

[grania]

I just can't buy a conspiracy theory here. It's possible that ANTHRAX, like Legionnaire's, never was completely gone. Now, with the greater awareness and concern about contagious diseases, a great effort is being made to diagnose unusual diseases. West Nile? Like Lyme Disease, it's spread was gradual and understandable.

My biggest concern would be that SARS or Anthrax infects troops which are stationed in cesspools such as Afghanistan and Iraq? Then what?

Did anybody think about the disease danger with the dislocations of people and lack of services caused by military actions? That could be a real calamity with summer weather.

[aristeides]

Tinkerbell. "If you believe in fairies, clap your hands!" Looks as if the FBI has a lot of believers in something or other.

[Shermy]

China is packed full of people. That diseases emanate from there is not surprising - for example, our yearly flu strains.

Anthrax does raise an eyebrow though.

[Domestic Church]

This is really getting bizarre. I don't believe this wasn't bioterror. Children have been targeted by OBL. This child was in a nursery school or some such facility...prime target.

[TaxRelief]

Are they testing everything in Hong Kong? Why Hong Kong?

[riri]

Except for SARS though, it seems to be warning shots. (if it is terrorism related).

[steve86]

It's possible that ANTHRAX, like Legionnaire's, never was completely gone.

Anthrax is actually very common in the environment, especially in areas where cattle range. It could never be eradicated in its natural scope like smallpox.

But having said that, circumstances make this case look very suspicious. I didn't catch whether it was inhalational or cutaneous or digestive or if they know at this point.

At least anthrax is not communicable and can be vaccinated against and treated with antibiotics if caught in time (in time meaning you know someone was exposed before they develop symptoms).

[Betty Jo]

I think that the terrs dont want to be caught, so they are starting the campaign in China. Everyone thinks China is a cesspool,so its easy to think that its all naturally happening, all on its own.

By the time America knows it to be from the terrs, it will be too late.