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Cockroach link to Sars
08/04/2003 12:32 - (SA)
Hong Kong - Cockroaches may have been to blame for spreading a killer pneumonia virus at a housing block at the centre of the outbreak in Hong Kong, health officials said here Tuesday.
Deputy health director Leung Pak-yin said investigators were exploring the possibility that cockroaches may have been responsible for infesting the apartment block at Block E of the Amoy Gardens complex.
More than 240 residents of Amoy Gardens were quarantined last week, with residents of the estate accounting for 278 of Hong Kong's 883 cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars).
Sars has killed more than 100 people - with 23 in Hong Kong - and infected close to 2 800 worldwide since it emerged five months ago, but exactly how the disease is transmitted remains a mystery.
Leung said Hong Kong authorities were looking at whether cockroaches had spread the virus at Amoy Gardens, where a massive cleanup was under way on Tuesday.
"There is a possible chance that cockroaches may carry the virus," into the homes after picking up the virus from wastes through the sewage pipes, Leung told local radio on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Hong Kong's health authorities later said all kinds of insects were being investigated.
"Different insects including cockroaches are being investigated," she said. "An investigation is still going on."
Earlier, health staff were seen collecting rats trapped in cages set in the infected building at Amoy Gardens.
About 100 staff from the health, food and environmental hygiene departments donned caps, masks, protective glasses and white protective robes to begin the arduous task of cleaning flats in Block E of the Amoy Gardens housing complex in Kowloon, a spokesperson for the health authorities said.
Meanwhile, representatives from the 108 affected households, who have been quarantined since March 31 in a bid to contain the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) outbreaks, were also brought in from three quarantine camps wearing masks and protective robes, the spokeswoman said.
"They were allowed back to open the doors to the flats to enable workers to clean up their flats," she said.
Most of the 247 residents from Block E of Amoy Gardens will be allowed home on Thursday at the end of their quarantine period if they are found to have no symptoms of the disease, the spokeswoman said.
But at least 17 of them will continue to be quarantined as they have shown symptoms of Sars, she said. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA
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