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Mystery disease claims 9th victim
16/03/2003 11:51 - (SA)
Hanoi - A ninth person has died of a mystery form of pneumonia that the World Health Organisation says can not be stopped by standard drugs and is being spread across the globe by air travellers.
In a rare emergency warning, Geneva-based WHO declared it "a worldwide health threat", saying cases had been reported on three continents.
"Until we can get a grip on it, I don't see how it will slow down," said WHO spokesperson Dick Thompson. "People are not responding to antibiotics or antivirals. It's a highly contagious disease and it's moving around by jet. It's bad."
US and French health officials and diplomats in Hanoi said on Sunday the latest fatality was a young Vietnamese nurse who died on Saturday. She was infected while treating an American businessman who died of pneumonia last week.
A severe form of pneumonia first struck China's southern Guangdong province in November when five people died. In recent days another four people have died and 150 infections had been reported in Asia, Europe and North America.
Experts are unsure if the cases were bacterial or viral and also don't know whether any or all were caused by the same strain of disease. Patients deteriorate quickly after initially coming down with simple flu-like symptoms, doctors say.
Spread to Canada
Most deaths have been in Asia - but on Friday authorities said two people had died in Canada. On Saturday, a doctor travelling on a New York-Singapore flight was quarantined during a stopover in Germany after he showed symptoms. The infected physician had earlier treated a pneumonia patient in Singapore.
Geneva-based WHO said that in the past week it has received more than 150 reports worldwide of the atypical pneumonia, which it called "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)". Thompson said nine people had died.
"The world needs to work together to find its cause, cure the sick, and stop its spread," Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, the WHO's director general, said in a statement.
A WHO advisory said there was no reason to restrict travel. But it urged people to seek medical attention if they have visited infected areas and show symptoms of the illness, which include coughing, high fever and shortness of breath.
SARS also may be associated with headache, muscle stiffness, loss of appetite, confusion, rash and diarrhoea.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said "health officials around the world are taking this situation very seriously".
US authorities said travellers may wish to postpone nonessential trips to countries at risk and that health officials are preparing to issue an alert for passengers returning from countries where SARS has been reported.
In the US city of Atlanta, director of the federal Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr Julie Gerberding, said the illness is believed to spread "person to person" and have an incubation period of two to seven days.
Bioterrorism
When asked whether the illness could be caused by bioterrorism, Gerberding said, "We have an open mind and will be keeping an open mind as we go forward."
The CDC emergency operations centre has been activated and its staff are working around the clock.
US epidemiologists arrived in Vietnam on Saturday to investigate the outbreak. A separate team of French doctors were expected to bring medicine and respirators.
Samples were rushed from Hanoi to Atlanta and will be tested immediately to try to determine the cause, said Dave Daigle, a CDC spokesperson.
The Hanoi outbreak started after the American businessman travelling from Shanghai via Hong Kong apparently infected up to 31 hospital workers, including the nurse who died. Three patients remained in critical condition on Sunday, including a French doctor, while 10 hospital workers have improved and been moved to a separate area away from the more severe cases, said Pascale Brudon, WHO's representative in Hanoi. The American was evacuated and died in Hong Kong.
At least 11 more people have been admitted to another hospital in the city after coming down with the same flu-like symptoms, three of which are listed as moderately severe.
In Frankfurt, Germany, a doctor who treated a patient with the illness in Singapore had to be taken off a New York-Singapore flight on Saturday during a stopover and was hospitalised. Two other people accompanying the doctor were also taken off the flight.
Quarantine
Another 155 passengers were temporarily held in quarantine or sent home and told to remain there, German authorities said.
Canadian health officials reported that a mother and son died earlier this month in Toronto. The pair had recently returned from a trip to Hong Kong. Four other family members and a person who had been in close contact with the family are in hospitals.
Singapore reported 16 infections and Taipei three. A man from the Philippines who visited Vietnam earlier this month also has been diagnosed with atypical pneumonia.
In Hong Kong, officials on Sunday said five more hospital workers displayed symptoms of pneumonia, bringing the total number there to 42. Three were listed in serious condition.
Cases also have been reported in Indonesia and Thailand, according to the WHO - though hospitals in those countries said they knew of no cases. - Sapa-AP
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