news.com.au April 07, 2003

MORE deaths from SARS n Canada and Hong Kong at the weekend have provided a gloomy backdrop to efforts to find a cure for the mystery killer disease.

As the first suspected case of infection by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus was detected in Kuwait and a fifth in Britain, World Health Organisation (WHO) experts pursued the search for the cause of the illness in the epidemic's epicentre, southern China.

The illness also claimed another high profile victim with the death of Interntational Labour Organisation (ILO) official, Pekka Aro, announced at a Chinese health ministry press conference in Beijing. He was the highest profile casualty of the outbreak since WHO expert Carlo Urbani – who first identified the disease – died in Bangkok last month.

Aro, from Finland, was among 19 new cases announced in the capital, bringing the number of deaths in Beijing to four.

At least 51 deaths from SARS have been reported in China and 1,247 people have been infected, according to official figures released on Sunday.

news.com.au April 08, 2003

TWO more Singaporeans, including a doctor, have died of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), bringing total deaths from the disease in that country to eight as officials contemplated more contingency measures. Half the 113 cases of SARS now recorded in Singapore are health workers - including six nurses whose infections were confirmed today - underscoring the dangers faced by hospital staff battling the disease worldwide.

Dr Ong Hok Su was the first medical staffer to die of SARS here and Health Minister Lim Hng Kiang paid tribute to the physician, who died of multiple organ failure with pneumonia, and other hospital workers fighting the scourge.

"We owe a debt of gratitude to all our (medical) staff for meeting this call of duty," Lim told a news conference.

The other fatality today was the mother of one of the island's first known cases of SARS, which began in southern China last November but was recognised as an international health crisis only last month.

Reuters , 04.07.03, 2:15 AM ET

TOKYO, April 7 (Reuters) - Shares in Yakult Honsha Co Ltd <2267.T> extended gains on Monday on speculation that French food group Danone <DANO.PA>, which has raised its stake in the Japanese drink maker, may seek business ties or an even bigger share.

The shares also got a boost from a rumour that a sweet milk-like drink produced by Yakult has a preventative effect against the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus, traders said.

Shares in Yakult ended trade up 10.27 percent at 1,869 yen, after touching a 9-½ year high of 1,898.

They have risen 18 percent since Danone, a world leader in its core water, dairy and biscuit businesses, said on Thursday that it had increased its stake in Yakult to 19 percent from five, as it seeks growth in external markets.

"The news prompted a buying spree as investors think Danone may seek to increase its stake in Yakult even further or seek some sort of business alliance in overseas business," said Shuichi Shibanuma, senior analyst at Credit Swiss First Boston.

"Yakult is a typical example of Japanese companies that have strong product lineups and high growth potential, but are run poorly, in terms of corporate governance, as it is led by the founder family."

Shibanuma added that any collaboration with a foreign company like Danone would help improve Yakult's profitability and the way the company is run.

A company spokesman said that in Hong Kong, daily sales of its mainstay "Yakult" probiotic drink had spiked to 900,000 bottles a day on March 31, compared with average sales of 300,000 to 400,000.

Traders cited talk that the drink can stave off the SARS virus. "There's no evidence that Yakult can prevent SARS, but a rumour has spread like wildfire throughout Hong Kong and many shops have been out of stock (there)," the spokesman said.

Sales of the drink in Hong Kong represent less than two percent of total sales of the drink, and sales have not been boosted in Japan, he said.

news.com.au April 07, 2003

FOUR children suspected of carrying the SARS virus are expected to be released from a Melbourne isolation ward and allowed home by the end of the day.

Doctors have said the three siblings and a Vietnamese child are all likely to get the all-clear today.

The Hogarth family - four-year-old Isabelle, Thomas, six, 18-month-old Jack and their parents David and Deb - have been in isolation since Thursday after the children developed symptoms of the deadly SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus.

The family, on holidays from Toronto, Canada, arrived in Melbourne on March 30 to visit parents and grandparents.

Professor Richard Doherty, the head of infectious diseases at Monash Medical Centre, said the three children appeared to be getting better.

<a href=www.news.scotsman.com>JAMES REYNOLDS ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT

A FIFTH suspected case of the deadly SARS virus was reported in the UK last night, as the death toll across the rest of the world rose above 90.

The new case, reported by health officials, concerns a man who returned to the UK from Taiwan on 29 March and was admitted to hospital in the east of England on 5 April.

It is the second probable case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome reported to the Health Protection Agency’s Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre in as many days.

All five cases were reported following an alert issued by the Health Protection Agency and the Department of Health on 14 March.

A joint statement issued by the Department of Health and the Health Protection Agency said of the fifth male case: "He did not have any symptoms on his flight back to England and there is no need for other passengers to be traced.

"Following admission to hospital, he has been treated in isolation as a precautionary measure and his condition is stable."

Three of the other probable cases who were being treated in various London hospitals have all now recovered and have been discharged from hospital.

The fourth case, who was reported on 5 April, is being treated in North Manchester General Hospital and is in a stable condition.

Worldwide, the toll from the fast-spreading flu-like illness rose to 98 deaths yesterday, as two more people died in Hong Kong.

The exact cause of the illness has not yet been identified, but symptoms include fever, aches, a dry cough and shortness of breath.

The Health Department has advised Britons not to travel to Hong Kong, which has seen more than 700 cases and up to 20 deaths, or Guangdong province, which accounts for at least 40 of China’s reported deaths.

The first case was recorded in November and since then more than 1,100 people in the province have fallen ill.

The figures are still rising across the world and the virus has infected 2,416 people in 18 countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A team of WHO investigators has been in Guangdong since Thursday trying to find out how SARS spreads and why it kills.

Many of those sick in China are said to be otherwise healthy people in their 20s to 40s.

Eleven laboratories worldwide are trying to find its source and create a diagnostic test.

Antibiotics do not appear to be effective against the bug, although the WHO said infection-control methods were helping to contain its spread.

It was thought that close contact with an infected person was needed for the infectious agent to spread from one person to another.

A Finnish man who died in Beijing yesterday became China’s first foreign fatality from the disease.

Pekka Aro, 53, died at a Beijing hospital, but appeared to have SARS before he arrived in the Chinese capital on 23 March from Thailand, a Chinese official said.

Aro told doctors he believed he caught the disease on the flight from Bangkok, said Guo Jiyong, deputy director general of the Beijing Health Bureau. He said no-one who had contact with Aro in Beijing has shown symptoms.

A second foreigner - a Canadian - is hospitalised in Beijing with the virus, but no details about the patient’s identity or condition, or whether the person was a resident of Beijing, were released.

The quick announcement of Aro’s death was a striking change from the communist government’s earlier reluctance to release information about SARS. Foreign officials and ordinary Chinese have complained about delays.

The head of the WHO added to the criticism last night, saying China should have been more open in the early stages of the disease.

WHO director general Gro Harlem Bruntland said: "China took too long before they felt the need to be helped. We could have saved time by coming in earlier."