<a href=www.khnl.com>News8-NBC Hawai March 31

Printer Friendly Version The state Department of Health reports two new suspected cases of mystery flu-like disease. The Health Department says the two Oahu women were part of a tour group that traveled to Northern China in mid-March. One woman was hospitalized on March 26th but is responding to treatment and is expected to be discharged tomorrow or Wednesday. The other woman did not require hospitalization. State epidemiologist Paul Effler says the department was aware of the two cases earlier but only list them as suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded the case definition last Friday to include travel anywhere in China. While there have been no confirmed cases of SARS in Hawaii, Governor Lingle says the state will continue to be vigilant. She says state health officials aren't overly concerned, but they continue to watch for patients showing symptoms of the dangerous respiratory infection that has prompted travel warnings in parts of Asia. Worldwide, about 60 people have died from SARS. Lingle says the state Health Department is in contact with the C-D-C and the World Health Organization and will notify residents immediately if a case of SARS turns up in Hawaii.

9:24 AM EST,April 5, 2003 By AUDRA ANG, <a href=www.ctnow.com>Associated Press Writer

GUANGZHOU, China -- An international team is turning up possible clues to the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome as it tries to follow the disease's tracks across the bustling landscape of southern China. Chinese experts in hard-hit Guangdong province told the scientists they have found a rare form of airborne chlamydia in some of their SARS patients, raising the possibility that more than one germ may be involved. Other Chinese cases suggest the disease might be passed by touching something tainted by a sick person's mucous or saliva. SARS continued to spread Saturday even as health officials stepped up their efforts to contain the disease. New cases were reported in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, while Hong Kong reported three more deaths and 39 new cases, while Malaysia announced its first death. In Hong Kong, workers covered head to toe in protective gear captured rats and roaches at an apartment complex where at least 250 people were infected. They also rounded up pets -- eight dogs, 14 cats, two hamsters and two turtles -- after a cat was found to carry a coronavirus. Coronaviruses are commonly found in animals, but microbiologists believe SARS is caused by a new form of coronavirus. Scientists are trying to determine if animals somehow carried the virus through the complex. Authorities at United Christian Hospital in Hong Kong announced Saturday that they would temporarily suspend all non-urgent services after more than 10 medical staff contracted the disease. The hospital has been one of the main care centers of SARS patients. China responded Saturday to criticism of its handling of the outbreak by promising to create a disease warning system and keep its public better informed. Vice Premier Wu Yi called for establishment of such a system "with emphasis placed on a public health information system," the official Xinhua News Agency and official newspapers said. Wu's comments were the highest-level response yet to demands that the reflexively secretive communist government change how it handles such outbreaks. It followed an extraordinary apology Friday by the country's top disease-prevention official amid complaints that China released information too slowly. On Saturday, the World Health Organization team met experts at Zhongshan University who collected hundreds of specimens of blood, lung fluid and other materials from people who died of SARS and those who recovered, said Dr. Robert Breiman, the team leader. The team wants to map the spread of the disease in Guangdong. WHO suggested comparing samples to find out whether those who died fell victim to a combination of viruses or bacteria, not just one strain, Breiman said. Chinese authorities say they found a rare, airborne form of chlamydia -- a virus usually transmitted through sexual contact -- in many who died. "It raises the question of, if you have one pathogen and you get hit with, say, coronavirus (do) you get a particularly bad disease?" Breiman said. "Or are you more likely to transmit? Do you become what we call a `super spreader'?" The WHO specialists say a key part of their search will be to draw on knowledge of Chinese experts who know the region and physicians with experience treating SARS patients. SARS has killed at least 85 people in Asia and Canada and sickened at least 2,200 in more than a dozen nations. Mainland China accounts for more than half the fatalities. No cure has been found, though health officials say most sufferers recover with timely hospital care. Symptoms include high fever, aches, dry cough and shortness of breath. On Friday, the WHO team visited Foshan, an industrial city in Guangdong where provincial officials say the world's first known SARS case occurred in November. Guangdong accounts for 40 of the 46 deaths reported by China. The WHO team said a key to the disease's speedy -- yet seemingly erratic -- transmission could lie in how the apparent first case, an unidentified businessman, passed it to four people without infecting his children. He survived and was released from the hospital in January. Many of the world's flu strains are traced to Guangdong and farms where people are believed to contract diseases from pigs and ducks. But the WHO team says most Chinese SARS cases are city dwellers, and Breiman said no link to animals has been established. "Contact with animals is still being looked into, but nothing convincing one way or the other has come out," he said. Another important clue that WHO unearthed from data provided by Foshan health authorities: The illness, originally thought to be transmitted primarily through such direct contacts as coughing and sneezing, appears also to be passed indirectly. Five of the 24 cases in Foshan show no actual "trace of transmission" to others, suggesting that infection can be spread by touching something tainted by a sick person's mucous or saliva, the experts said. The spread of SARS has disrupted air travel and forced the closure of schools, hospitals and businesses in many countries. Hong Kong's airport authority said 116 flights, one-fifth of all flights to the territory, were canceled on Saturday.

MTVAsia April 1, 2003

Singapore -- Carlos Santana has decided to postpone his Singapore tour until further notice.

From the press release issued today, it is said that "Santana is postponing his one night concert in Singapore, slated for April 8 at the Indoor Stadium, due to the deteriorating situation of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in the territory."

The concert organisers are trying to secure a replacement date in the coming days, with possible dates in November or early December.

Tickets holder do note that the April 8 tickets will still be valid for the re-scheduled tour. For those requesting refunds, SISTIC has advised that tickets will need to be returned to the SISTIC box office at the Indoor Stadium between April 14 - 28.

The artist, management and organisers sincerely apologise for the postponement and will endeavour to release further news as soon as practically possible. -- LM

etaiwannews.com 2003-04-06 / Associated Press /

Singapore's economic losses for the first month of the outbreak could total an estimated 509 million Singapore dollars (US$286 million) and could hit S$4.1 billion (US$2.3 billion) if the outbreak continues for three months, Standard Chartered Bank economist Joseph Tan was quoted as telling the Straits Times newspaper.

In China's southern Guangdong province, a WHO team met at Zhongshan University where experts have collected hundreds of specimens of blood, lung fluid and other materials from people who died of SARS and those who recovered, team leader Dr. Robert Breiman said.

WHO wants to compare the samples to determine whether those who died were killed by a combination of viruses or bacteria or just one strain, he said.

The meeting came after the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control, Li Liming, offered the world an extraordinary apology for failing to release information sooner about the disease - first detected in China in November.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, hygiene workers in protective suits collected rats and roaches for testing at the Amoy Gardens apartment complex, where at least 250 residents were infected. They hope the pests may hold a clue to how the disease was transmitted.

Agricultural officials also rounded up pets, from dogs to turtles, from the building after a cat was found to carry a type of animal virus called a coronavirus. Experts believe SARS might be a new form of the virus, the South China Morning Post reported.

Fear of infection kept many Hong Kong residents from crossing over to mainland China to sweep their ancestors' graves for the ancient Ching Ming festival.

In Australia, staff of the national airline Qantas were trying to contact 310 passengers who were on flight QF094 from Los Angeles to Melbourne with three children suspected of carrying the disease. The children and their parents flew from their home in Toronto, Canada for a holiday in Melbourne.

Cleaners, maintenance staff, pilots and flight attendants who had contact with the aircraft are also being alerted to watch out for symptoms which include high fever, aches, a dry cough and shortness of breath.

Canada

Canadian health officials on Friday reported just nine more possible cases of SARS, bringing the nationwide total to 187, but cautioned there could be a spike in cases in the coming days.

Canada, which has had seven suspected SARS deaths, has been hit the hardest outside Asia, where the disease is believed to have started last November.

The majority of the cases remain in Canada's largest province, Ontario, where 149 possible SARS cases were tallied, up three from Thursday.

An elderly woman, who traveled to Hong Kong and stayed in the Metropole Hotel, is believed to have brought the disease to Canada's largest city and unknowingly infected others.

Outside Ontario, there are possible SARS cases in the provinces of British Columbia (26, including three probable), Alberta (five), Prince Edward Island (four), New Brunswick (two), and Saskatchewan (one).

New Zealand

Thousands of tertiary students studying in Auckland have been asked by education authorities to reconsider their plans to return home for the Easter break to prevent the deadly atypical pneumonia virus from spreading to New Zealand.

Auckland University of Technology Friday asked students to consider postponing trips home to countries affected by the flu-like virus that has so far killed 83 people and infected more than 2,500 worldwide since showing up in China's southern province of Guangdong late last year, the New Zealand Herald reported yesterday.

More than 80,000 overseas students are enrolled in New Zealand schools and tertiary institutions, with almost half from China and Hong Kong - the countries worst hit by the health crisis.

San Petersburg Times By Margaret Wong

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HONG KONG - Health officials announced a sharp rise Monday in cases of a flu-like disease at a Hong Kong apartment complex and slapped a 10-day quarantine on one building as they scrambled to contain the illness that has killed nearly 60 people worldwide.

The 92 new cases at Amoy Gardens apartments brought the total number infected in the 19-building complex to 213.

The surge in cases led some health officials to fear severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, could be more contagious than had been initially expected.

There is still no known treatment for SARS, which has killed nearly 60 people, with the majority of cases in Hong Kong and China.

Three new deaths were reported Sunday, one each in Hong Kong, Toronto and Singapore. More than 1,600 people have been infected around the world.

A World Health Organization official said Monday that experts believe they can soon identify the virus causing SARS, though finding a cure could take longer.

"I think we can identify the causative agent in quite a short time period. We think probably within a few days, at most a few weeks," said Hitoshi Oshitani, the WHO coordinator for SARs, at a news conference in Manila.

"But this doesn't mean we will find the specific treatment for this disease within the short time period."

The illness has prompted officials in Asian countries to impose long-unused quarantine laws, close schools and impose new health screening on travelers. Canadian officials declared a health emergency.

In Hong Kong, residents at Block E of Amoy Gardens, were ordered to stay in their homes until midnight April 9 or face fines or jail time, while being offered regular medical checkups and three free meals per day.

Hong Kong officials said 107 people from Block E are sick.

Hong Kong's health secretary, Dr. Yeoh Eng-kiong, told a news conference the quarantine was forced by "a very exceptional circumstance."

Yeoh was emotional and initially had trouble speaking to reporters. "We haven't done it before and we hope we won't do it again," he said of the quarantine.

Singapore's health minister, Lim Hng Kiang, said the disease may spread more easily than first believed, with some people found to be more infectious than others.

These people can sicken as many as 40 others, he said.

"We run the risk of a huge new cluster of infected people, which could start a chain reaction," Lim told a news conference Sunday.

Yeoh said Hong Kong officials believe the virus was brought to Amoy Gardens by a man infected at a hospital where many of Hong Kong's victims have fallen ill.

Asked whether SARS was spreading through the air, Yeoh said that couldn't be ruled out.

Officials had said previously the illness, which has killed 13 people in Hong Kong, seemed to spread through close contact and Yeoh said experts still believe the sickness is being transmitted mostly through droplets, when victims sneeze or cough and nearby people are infected.

"No one can rule out this possibility of airborne transmission, because the virus can change so quickly these days," Yeoh said.

Police sealed Block E at Amoy Gardens with metal barricades and tape after the quarantine was ordered in the early hours of the morning .

Speaking to local television and radio stations, one resident said he would bide his time with the Internet and video games. A woman grumbled that jail inmates probably get better treatment.

"They only gave me a loaf of white bread," said the woman, identifying herself to TVB television as Ms. Lam. "Have they thought about our feelings? I haven't been jailed before, but I understand that prisoners even get newspapers to read."

In China, where the disease has killed at least 34 people, people rushed to buy surgical masks and herbal cold remedies as unease rose.

In Canada, another death was reported Sunday to bring the toll there to four. About 100 probable or suspect cases have been reported from the west coast city of Vancouver, British Columbia, to the east coast city of New Brunswick.

Officials have closed two hospitals to new patients, and hundreds of people have been quarantined in their homes.

The World Health Organization recommended that international travelers from Toronto and several Asian cities get screened for symptoms, which include high fever, dry cough and shortness of breath.

The International Ice Hockey Federation canceled the women's world championships scheduled to begin Thursday in Beijing, following numerous other cancellations of concerts, anti-war protests and other events in infected areas.

The federation said the spread of the illness to Beijing from southern China put the players at risk.

Hockey players for Canada, the defending champion, were disappointed but understood.

"You could lose your life going there and just being in contact with somebody," forward Danielle Goyette said. "Life is more important than hockey right now."