flu (Page 21)

For the first time, the Chinese government has admitted that almost about 3 dozen people have died and almost 800 are ill in an outbreak of the new mystery disease known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. Until now, they insisted that only five people had died from it. With all the war news on TV, our media is ignoring the increasing spread of SARS here in the U.S.?but not so in Canada, where they’ve declared a health emergency and may soon force people into quarantine.

Dr. Meirion Evans, of the World Health Organization (WHO) says, “We’re getting a more complete picture. It’s certainly been one of the objectives of the mission to clarify whether the outbreak in China was the same disease as what’s been seen outside of China.”
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U.S. and international health officials now think the mystery disease that originated in Asia and is spreading rapidly throughout the U.S. is a tough new version of the common cold. It was earlier reported to be a form of the virus that causes measles and mumps, but now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says tests reveal traces of a form of microbe known as a coronavirus in the tissue of people infected with “severe acute respiratory syndrome,” or SARS. CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding says, “If (coronavirus) is not the entire cause of SARS, it at least contributes to it.”

The next goal is to develop a diagnostic test to identify people who have SARS, instead of ordinary flu, which could lead to a more effective treatment for the new disease.
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Twenty-two people in states from New York City to California have symptoms similar to those of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the mysterious disease that’s striking people worldwide. Health department officials believe they got their infections abroad, since most of them recently returned from trips to Hong Kong or southern China, where the disease started.
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The United States has identified 11 cases of the new mystery disease among Americans who traveled to Asia. The disease has stricken hundreds of people worldwide. Dr. Julie Gerberding, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says, “The 11 people that we are talking about today have a travel history, fever and respiratory symptoms that make them fall into a case definition for a suspect case.” The disease has been traced to a Chinese doctor who stayed on the 9th floor of the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong. Health Minister Yeoh Eng-kiong says, “Eighty percent of the infections in Hong Kong can be traced to that one person.”
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