flu (Page 22)

Experts say the bug responsible for the deadly form of pneumonia known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that’s spreading worldwide is a virus from the paramyxoviridae family, which is responsible for mumps and measles.

The worst affected countries are Hong Kong, with 111 cases, Vietnam, with 54 cases, and Singapore, with 23 cases. There are suspected cases in Israel, Australia, Germany, the U.S. and the U.K., as well as in Switzerland, France, Slovenia, Taiwan, Thailand, China and the Philippines. Since it’s spreading so widely, it’s probably being passed on by air travelers. However, researchers think close, prolonged contact is necessary to catch it, rather than just proximity (such as sitting next to an infected person on a plane).
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A highly contagious flu-like virus, which quickly turns into pneumonia, started in Asia and has spread rapidly through hospitals in Hong Kong and Hanoi. It’s so severe that the World Health Organization sent an expert to Hong Kong to try to identify the virus, and France and Japan have sent medical experts to Vietnam. The source of the outbreak is linked to the death of an 48-year-old American doctor who arrived in Hanoi from Shanghai suffering from severe respiratory problems. When his condition got worse, he was transferred to a hospital in Hong Kong, where he later died. Now there’s evidence that the mystery virus has spread to Canada, meaning it’s headed our way. A staff member of the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong sent us an update.read more

Experts say we need to plan for a flu outbreak that could claim hundreds of thousands of lives. Although the last two winters have brought only mild strains of flu, the viruses are constantly mutating and it’s only a matter of time before a powerful strain emerges. Previous killer flu strains included the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed tens of millions of people because it mutated into a form the human immune system couldn?t fight off.
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The 1997 Hong Kong flu, which killed one third of its victims, was caused by a single mutation that allowed the virus to disable part of the body’s immune system?and it could happen again. “If this mutated gene is put into an ordinary strain of flu you turn it into a nasty virus,” says Robert Webster, of St Jude Children’s Hospital. “It provides an explanation for the virulence of the H5N1 Hong Kong epidemic and possibly for the 1918 epidemic.”
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