Posted on 03/26/2003 5:27:38 PM PST by Lessismore
Reveals 797 are ill and 34 dead from mystery virus - more than six times number it had admitted to before
BEIJING - Faced with increasing pressure to come clean over the true extent of a mysterious pneumonia outbreak, the Chinese authorities revealed yesterday that 34 people have died and at least 797 have been infected by the disease since last November.
These figures are more than six times the number of deaths and twice the number of infections that Chinese health officials confirmed previously.
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In Guangdong, an official newspaper reported yesterday that 31 people have died from atypical pneumonia since last November, while another 792 people have been infected.
In Beijing, officials said that hospitals here have treated eight patients with atypical pneumonia. Three have died, while the rest are recovering.
A statement from the Beijing city government said that the patients were brought to Beijing from other parts of China and maintained that there were no primary cases of atypical pneumonia in the Chinese capital city.
However, two medical staff who attended to the eight patients are suspected to have caught the virus, the statement added.
Up till yesterday, Chinese health officials would confirm only five deaths and 305 people infected with atypical pneumonia since November last year.
The latest revelations confirmed suspicions among health experts that the outbreak in China is more serious than what officials have been willing to admit.
Sources in Guangdong said the 31 deaths and 792 infections are 'in the right ballpark', but expressed surprise at the authorities' sudden decision to offer the fresh figures.
'Maybe it's an instruction from the top,' said a health official who did not want to be named.
Atypical pneumonia is suspected of being linked to the global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) that has so far killed at least 19 people worldwide.
According to the official Guangzhou Daily, the first case of atypical pneumonia in Guangdong emerged on Nov 16 last year in Foshan city.
The ailment subsequently spread to other parts of the province, with the outbreak peaking in February.
The provincial capital of Guangzhou has been the worst hit with 680 infections and 24 deaths.
Health authorities there have been quoted as saying that the situation is improving, and that 75 per cent of atypical pneumonia patients have recovered from their illness.
Hospitals saw fewer cases of atypical pneumonia this month, the report said, adding that fresh figures will be released next month.
Expatriates and ordinary Chinese are increasingly worried and frustrated by the veil of secrecy maintained by health officials, which has so far succeeded only in fanning rumours, anonymous e-mail and phone text messages warning people to stay away from crowds.
Beijing health officials claim that they have set up a monitoring system, and that sufficient numbers of medical staff have been trained to handle any cases of atypical pneumonia.
Meanwhile, a team of World Health Organisation (WHO) officials are in Beijing to determine if the outbreak in China is linked to the global spread of Sars.
A WHO spokesman told The Straits Times that the meeting with Chinese health officials was 'extremely good'.
He said that a Guangdong official provided 'stacks of information' going back to the beginning of the outbreak in the southern province.
He added: 'The files were extremely detailed and useful. The team was able to look at information like where patients lived, and how they were treated.
'China is one big chunk of this puzzle. What is learnt from the data from the beginning of the outbreak in Guangdong will be very useful.'
The experts are now working on a 'common case definition', so they can determine if a patient has contracted the deadly virus based on an agreed set of symptoms and observations, the spokesman said.
However, he could not say when it would be ready.
China loses more people from a 5.2 earthquake and many times more from annual floods. If tobacco were the evil our legislators have voted that it is, all the Chinese would be dead of lung cancer by now.
The fact that so many health professionals are contracting it means that it is highly communicable. The fact that it is spreading somewhat slowly is due to extreme infection control.
The mortality seems similar to Spanish flu. However, there are a lot of patients who have been in hospital for a long time and who are being treated intensively with supportive care. As the cases multiply, this will overload the health care system, treatement will become less supportive, and mortality rates will climb.
It seems likely that mortality of several percent could occur on a world-wide epidemic average.
Its likely to render "the social security deficit" and "health care for the elderly" moot points politically.
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