| ||||
|
|
WHO: Animals may play SARS role
GUANGZHOU, China (AP)--World Health Organization investigators have found "very good evidence" to suggest that animals play a role in SARS, uncovering traces of the virus in the restaurant where a suspected patient worked and civet cats were on the menu, the team's leader said Jan. 16.
But Dr. Robert Breiman also said that SARS should not be considered an immediate public health threat in China--a reassurance pivotal in its timing, days before hundreds of millions of people begin traveling around the country for the Chinese New Year.
In samples from the Guangzhou restaurant that employed a 20-year-old waitress suspected to have SARS, "Tests revealed on each cage the SARS coronavirus," Breiman said.
"Not only were there civet cats there, but at some point civet cats that were carrying the SARS coronavirus," he said at a news conference. He said traces were also found on swabs taken from the city's largest live-animal market.
"I think there is very good evidence to think animals are the reservoir and the way the disease gets started," Breiman said, adding: "We still don't know what role the civet cats play in spreading the virus."
Wild animals have long been a delicacy in Guangdong, and many suspect that exposure to or consumption of them may be linked to the spread of SARS--and even its origins in late 2002.
Breiman emphasized that there was no way to know when the virus was deposited in the restaurant's cages or whether it was connected to the waitress' case.
He said, however, that the virus in the one confirmed case this season appears "milder" than it was last year, and that research was necessary to determine if this year's SARS is slightly different from last year's strain. "Is this a variant of SARS?" he wondered aloud.
Breiman also said it was possible that rodents play a role in spreading severe acute respiratory syndrome. Guangdong has spent much of the week targeting and killing thousands of rats, a week after it carried out a mass eradication of civets.
"There isn't conclusive proof, but it's very plausible that rodents do have a role," Breiman said.
The team has been in Guangzhou, Guangdong's provincial capital, all week taking and examining samples. Despite their findings, Breiman prescribed calm as the Chinese New Year approaches.
"We do not regard SARS at this moment as a particular public health threat," he said.
SARS emerged from southern China and sickened more than 8,000 people worldwide last year before subsiding in June. The disease killed 774 people, including 349 in China.
This season, authorities have one confirmed case and two suspected ones. The confirmed case has recovered, and the two suspected ones are said to be doing well.
In Australia, health officials said Jan. 16 that tests have cleared two Chinese flight attendants of having SARS and the women have been released from a Sydney hospital. The women, who worked for China Southern Airlines, were hospitalized earlier in mid-January after complaining of flu-like symptoms following their arrival from Guangdong province.
Guangdong is aiming at "timely isolation and treatment for every possible case," said Wang Zhiqiong, deputy director-general of the Guangdong Public Health Department.
Wang said 3,903 civets and 665 other wild animals were slaughtered between Jan. 1 and Monday.
"All the civet cats that we found and disposed of were in restaurants, markets and farms. All civets in the mountain habitats will be untouched," she said.
Guangdong said it had asked surrounding Chinese provinces and regions to stop people from shipping civets into the province. The provincial Forestry Bureau has set up checkpoints at provincial boundaries to check traffic for civets and other suspect animals.
Xu Ruiheng, an official with the Guangdong Center for Disease Control, said the ban on transporting, cooking and eating civets remains in place--although the weasel-like mammals have all but vanished from public sight in the province.
Date: 1/29/04
Copyright 1995-2008. High Plains Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com
 
| |||||||||||||||||||||
