Honk Kong Health Secretary calls for calm as SARS cases double, (83 up from 42 on Sunday)

IOL ^ | 03-17-03

[Mother Abigail]

  Mysterious pneumonia outbreak doubles

March 17 2003 at 12:07PM

Hong Kong's health chief on Monday appealed for calm after revealing that the number of people struck down with a mysterious outbreak of pneumonia had nearly doubled to 83.

Health Secretary, Yeoh Eng-kiong said in a press briefing that 83 people were confirmed as having atypical pneumonia, up from 42 on Sunday. A further 12 people were under observation.

"The figure is alarming," Yeoh said. "This is time for calm and not panic."

He said the surge in confirmed cases was explained by the fact that health officials had tracked down a patient suffering from the disease, who had previously thought to be suffering only from a fever. 'There is no sign that the disease has spread to the community'Yeoh said the latest figures included 16 medical students and 23 close relatives of patients, again stressing that the outbreak had not spread to the wider community.

"Hong Kong is a safe place, and there is no sign that the disease has spread to the community," said Yeoh. The disease named by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has left four people dead in Asia and Canada and infected over 150 others, mostly medical workers, in the past week.

The flu-like symptoms appear to be similar to those of a sickness in southern China's Guangdong province in mid-February that infected 305 people, killing five of them.

The latest victims were a nurse in Hanoi and two members of a Canadian family who died in hospital in Toronto following a recent visit to Hong Kong. Four other family members and a friend are also ill. - Sapa-AFP

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for posting this.

[ksen]

Anyone know what the mortality rate for this has been?

[Mother Abigail]

Here we go.....

[Mother Abigail]

Thank you for the heads up..

[Dog Gone]

Nobody has fully recovered yet, at least according to the last report I read. So, it's a little early to determine a mortality rate.

[Judith Anne]

My pleasure. I appreciate your updates on the other threads, real news on this is hard to come by...

[Mother Abigail]

Two people hospitalized in France after trips to Asia

1 hour, 28 minutes ago

PARIS - French health authorities said Monday that two people who returned from Asia were hospitalized in Paris for tests to check for a mysterious new form of Asian pneumonia.

 One of the patients returned from Vietnam showing flu-like symptoms and the other person, who was in Hong Kong, appeared to be suffering from bronchitis, said Lucien Abenhaim, France's director-general of health.

Abenhaim said more details were expected later in the day.
Symptoms of the illness include fever, coughing, shortness of breath, headache, diarrhea and muscle stiffness, but physicians understand little about the disease that officials have dubbed "severe acute respiratory syndrome," or SARS.
Outbreaks of atypical pneumonia that hit southern China several months ago have been followed by similar cases in neighboring Asian nations, and most recently in Europe and North America.

It was not clear whether the cases — including five deaths in China, one in Vietnam, one in Hong Kong and two in Canada — are linked or caused by one disease type or several strains.

[backhoe]

Locator ^

[CathyRyan]

Thank you for the PING :)

[realpatriot71]

Anyone know what the mortality rate for this has been?

Too new to say for sure, but 5 deaths out of 350 so far would 1.4% - actually not an unreasonable number for flu

[Mother Abigail]

17 Mar 2003 14:16

UK logs first suspected SARS pneumonia case

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Britain reported its first suspected case on Monday of a severe and contagious strain of pneumonia which is thought to have killed nine people in Asia and Canada and infected 170 others.

"I can confirm there has been a suspected case of the disease," a Health Ministry spokesman told Reuters, without giving further details.

Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer for England, told the BBC the patient was admitted to hospital on Sunday after returning from a trip to Hong Kong.

"At the moment we are not sure whether the case is linked but we are treating it as a possible link to the outbreak in the Far East," he said.

The World Health Organisation has issued a rare emergency travel advisory about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), saying it is now a "global health threat".

The illness is an atypical pneumonia that begins with high fever, chills, cough and breathing difficulty. Some experts believe it is caused by a new virus.

The Health Minister in Hong Kong, where nearly 100 people have been infected, has described the number of people infected in the former British colony as "very alarming".
Airports and airlines from Italy to New Zealand have put their staff on alert and ordered them not to check in passengers showing symptoms of the disease.

Philippine airport officials said they were spraying anti-viral agents inside aircraft coming from infected countries.
South Korea has warned its citizens against unnecessary travel to China, Hong Kong and Vietnam, where most of the infections have occurred. Singapore and Taiwan issued travel warnings last week.

In Hong Kong, where one person has died, government officials said the number of people infected had nearly doubled to 95, of which 83 had developed severe pneumonia.
In Vietnam, where a nurse died on Saturday, the number of infections rose to 50 from 46 and fearful residents in Hanoi rushed to pharmacies to snap up medicines and masks.

Some nervous travellers have begun to cancel tours to Vietnam and Hong Kong, where tourism has been one of the few bright spots for the economy.

In Canada, seven people have been infected.
 

[trebb]

Anyone know what the mortality rate for this has been?

The doctor that does his bit on FOX said that so far, 40% of those that got medical care had died. Not sure what the specs are for those who didn't get care, but have to assume (or at least guess) that the death rate is higher for them.

[Judith Anne]

I'm still waiting for a presumptive case in the US....but I'm surprised it showed up in Paris...wonder how the folks in Frankfurt that are quarantined are doing...

[ksen]

Whoops, you beat me to the London article. ;^)

I've asked the mods to remove so this thread doesn't get too cluttered.

But I'd like to repeat my question, what is the chance this bug has been engineered?

[Judith Anne]

There's always a chance, and since the bug hasn't been identified yet to the best of my knowledge, I think it's likely it's a new flu strain.

[backhoe]

Further info is appreciated- I'm at my backup PC now & will link this story later.

[ksen]

I've asked the mods to remove so this thread doesn't get too cluttered.

*sigh* Change that to read, "I've asked the mods to remove my #15 so this thread doesn't get too cluttered."

[Mother Abigail]

CHINESE CONNECTION
In Geneva, where two people are in isolation with typical symptoms like breathing difficulties, high fever, chills and dry cough, the WHO said it would work with Chinese health authorities to determine the cause of the illness.

WHO experts suspect the first case of SARS appeared in China's southern Guangdong province where 305 people became ill and five died.

"With four months of meticulously obtained information from China, we believe we will have the answers to how this disease acts in populations and how we can best deal with it," said David Heymann, head of the WHO communicable diseases section.

In Italy, four people who arrived on a Singapore Airlines flight were under observation and airports in the country were on high alert, but no cases have been reported.

During the weekend, a Singapore doctor was taken off a plane in Frankfurt after displaying symptoms. He had earlier treated patients with the disease in Singapore, where more than 20 people are now infected.

NEW PATHOGEN
Scientists have been on heightened alert for the next influenza pandemic, which many believe is already overdue. The WHO alert has heightened fears of an outbreak on the scale of the worst influenza epidemic in the last century that killed more than 20 million
people.

"People are looking for the next influenza pandemic. That is true. But none of the tests that have been done so far has shown that this (SARS) is caused by influenza," Simpson said.