SARS

[chinadave2001]

Hi all...

This thing doesn't want to go away....

 

 

MSNBC NEWS SERVICE

 

 

BEIJING, March 26 — China on Wednesday dramatically raised the death toll from a mystery flulike illness to 31, with nearly 800 infected, as health officials secretly placed Beijing hospitals on high alert.

 

 

 

Officials with WHO and the CDC said Monday that SARS may be caused by a new form of the coronavirus, one of a few viruses that can cause the common cold.

 

THE GOVERNMENT of Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong, said in a statement that 792 people had contracted atypical pneumonia in the southern province by the end of February.

In Guangzhou, the provincial capital of 10 million people, 24 had died and 680 had contracted the disease. The other seven deaths were spread among six other Guangdong cities, which had reported no new cases in March, the statement said.

World Health Organization officials said that although the Guangdong outbreak was “very similar” to the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, that has killed at least 18 people around the world, it was too early to say if the two were the same disease.

China had previously disclosed that five people were killed by the pneumonia outbreak in Guangdong province, but critics have charged that the mainland authorities were not providing a complete picture.

A World Health Organization official in Geneva said WHO experts had sought permission to get into Guangdong but their request was not immediately granted, leading to calls for greater cooperation from Beijing. A WHO team leader in Beijing, Dr. John MacKenzie, later said experts were to meet with Guangdong authorities Wednesday afternoon. He said his agency was unaware of the additional deaths.

Beijing, hoping to head off panic, has quietly put its hospitals on alert and laid out a plan to prevent the deadly disease from spreading in the city of 14 million people.

 

World health experts are trying to identify the cause of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, a new form of deadly pneumonia that is spreading rapidly through Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. For more information about the illness, click on a question above.

Most patients have a fever of about 101 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), coughing and shortness of breath. Other possible symptoms include headache, muscular stiffness, loss of appetite, confusion, rash and diarrhea.

 

The illness appears to spread through close contact, such as between family members or between patient and doctor. Experts believe it is transmitted through coughing, sneezing and other contact with nasal fluids. Once someone has been exposed to the illness, it takes three to seven days for symptoms to develop.

 

Researchers don’t know whether the illness is caused by a bacteria or a virus. However, test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected within days and will likely provide an answer. Some health officials report that patients have responded well to anti-viral medications, as opposed to antibiotics, which indicates the illness may be caused by a virus.

 

Patients suspected of having the illness are being quarantined in hospitals. Until health officials learn its cause, there is no definite course of treatment.

 

So far there have been nine fatalities among the 150 most recent cases. Other patients remain seriously ill.

 

U.S. health officials said travelers should consider postponing trips to countries at risk. Those who have traveled to Hong Kong; Guangdong province in China; or Hanoi, Vietnam, are being told to monitor their health for seven days. If a fever and shortness of breath develop, they are advised to see a doctor.

 

A WHO team seeks to determine whether the outbreak was linked to the global spread of SARS, which has sickened nearly 500. Cases have also been reported in the United States, Britain and Australia.

In the United States, 39 people have the disease, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 32 of those had traveled to Asia. The others were health-care workers or family members of infected patients.

Elsewhere:

Singapore reported its first death from SARS on Wednesday, which would bring the global total to 18, and said it would shut its schools for the first time since a polio outbreak in the 1940s. Five new cases have been reported, raising the total to 74, and 861 citizens were ordered to stay home this week in an unprecedented quarantine in the city-state of 4 million people.

In Hong Kong, where many citizens were going about town in masks, media reported that about 60 schools had been closed as a precaution. Hong Kong reported 26 new cases Tuesday, bringing its total to 286 — more than half the worldwide total of 487. Ten of the world’s 17 SARS deaths since Feb. 1 have been in Hong Kong.

In Canada, where three patients have died, health officials said Tuesday that they had quarantined about two dozen possible carriers of SARS after the number of probable cases in Ontario jumped to 18 from 10.

The disease is believed to have spread to Singapore, Vietnam and Canada by people who caught it while spending time last month on the ninth floor of the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong, where an infected mainland Chinese medical professor was a guest.

The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong reported early Wednesday that the professor had been treating atypical pneumonia patients in the mainland before he came to Hong Kong. The professor died in Hong Kong in early March.

 

SPREAD BY AIR TRAVEL?

Adding to fears that a deadly flulike illness is being spread by air travelers, Hong Kong officials also said Tuesday that nine tourists apparently came down with the deadly disease after a mainland Chinese man infected them on a March 15 Air China flight to Beijing.

 

If SARS can be more easily spread through the air — rather than through close contact with infected people — it could force travel and other restrictions to contain the disease.

“We would want to be sure that it was people sitting next to that person and not the ventilation system in the airplane which was spreading the disease,” said Dr. David Heymann, head of communicable diseases at WHO. “We have no evidence of the latter right now.”

For one thing, he said, health investigators have followed thousands of passengers who flew with SARS-infected travelers and did not become sick.

However, he said that if they find there are cases that did not involve close contact with someone sick or at high risk, “we will then be very concerned that this might have become airborne.”

The airplane cases seem similar to how the disease got its start — from one hotel guest who spread it to six strangers staying on the same floor. One expert theorized it might have spread through the air-conditioning system.

The disease has spread most rapidly through Asian hospitals, some of which lacked the surgical masks and goggles needed to prevent catching the disease from patients. WHO has been distributing such equipment.

The U.S. State Department has warned citizens not to travel to Vietnam, where four people have died, because it lacks medical facilities to deal with the disease.

 

ANOTHER VIRAL CANDIDATE CAUSE

Officials with WHO and the CDC said Monday that SARS may be caused by a new form of the coronavirus, one of a few viruses that can cause the common cold.

 

The coronavirus had been found in SARS patient specimens by scientists at Hong Kong University and by the CDC. But more research confirming that is being pursued.

There is no government-approved treatment for the common cold or SARS, but CDC head Dr. Julie Gerberding said the Defense Department is testing the coronavirus against all known antiviral drugs. There has been progress with antivirals against other respiratory viruses, and some of those drugs have been effective in studies against some coronaviruses, she said.

However, WHO virologist Dr. Klaus Stohr, who is working with the agency’s network of 11 global labs, said researchers in some labs continue to find signs of another germ family, the paramyxovirus.

 

MORE THAN ONE MICROBE?

“We are a bit puzzled because we are not only dealing apparently with one pathogen but with two. The reason why we believe that both pathogens should be given equal attention is that there is consistent finding of both pathogens in individual patients or of either of the pathogens in other patients,” he said.

“What we are seeing actually are three hypotheses.”

SARS might be caused by one of those two viruses or “these two pathogens have to come together to cause this very severe outbreak.”

The latter theory is that the coronavirus — which Stohr said lives in immune cells that fight off disease — destroys or weakens the immunity in the patient so the second virus “has practically an open door to go in and to sicken the patient beyond what this virus would be able to do normally.

“But more research is being done to verify that.”

 

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Dave

[beishan4]

Aloha from Beijing,

I just got some news from the television in Beijing. All schools in

Hong Kong from kindergarden to high school have been closed until

April 6. It seems that SARS is not yet under control.

Myles aka Annakuen'GG

[tonado]

Asian nations move to block disease's spread as Hong Kong quarantines hundreds; 54 dead

 

By Dirk Beveridge, Associated Press, 3/27/2003 12:44

 

HONG KONG (AP) The government here said Thursday it would quarantine more than 1,000 people and close its schools, while the World Health Organization urged airlines with some international flights to screen passengers for the deadly flu-like illness.

 

The Geneva-based U.N. agency fighting to contain the disease said its latest warning was for international flights leaving affected areas Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore, Hanoi, Taiwan and Guangdong province, China.

 

The WHO said passengers should be asked if they have flu-like symptoms or if they may have had contact with anyone infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome. Anyone answering yes should not be permitted to fly.

 

The new warning about airline travel reflects heightened concern by the world health agency, which previously had said the disease was unlikely to spread on airplanes. However, Hong Kong reported nine passengers became ill from exposure to one passenger on a flight earlier this month.

 

The WHO's request will go to the world's governments, and it will be up to them to decide whether to enforce it with airlines. Asia has been hardest-hit by the disease, which has a 4 percent death rate, but there are 45 suspected cases in the United States and three people in Canada have also died from it.

 

There is no treatment for the disease, which is believed to be a virus.

 

Testifying before Congress Thursday, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said, ''It's spreading a little bit faster than we anticipated.''

 

He also said SARS is believed to have infected 1,500 people; the WHO is reporting over 1,300 cases. The number of deaths Thursday rose to 54, based on information from government officials.

 

In their new warning, WHO officials said close contact in a plane which they described as sitting within two rows of an infected person was compounded by the length of flights.

 

''Exposure in a plane is much longer than, say, in an elevator,'' said the WHO's infectious diseases chief, Dr. David Heymann.

 

Meanwhile, Asian officials continued to take harsh measures to get the disease under control. Singapore, which earlier quarantined hundreds of people, also shut its schools, and weekend concerts in Hong Kong by the Rolling Stones were postponed for fear of the disease.

 

Those steps came a day after mainland China disclosed a sharply higher death toll for the flu-like illness, spreading fears of a wider outbreak.

 

Thousands of Hong Kong residents wore surgical masks while going about town, giving this vibrant city the feel of a sprawling hospital ward. The Health Department recommended masks only for people with flu-like symptoms so they won't infect others.

 

''If people feel more safe wearing a mask, it is up to them to decide,'' Health Department spokeswoman Sally Kong said.

 

The Taiwanese capital of Taipei declared a full medical alert Thursday after a major engineering company temporarily closed because five of its employees were suspected of being infected. They had recently traveled to mainland China.

 

Hong Kong's government leader, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, said Thursday night that officials had ordered the quarantine of 1,080 people believed to have been in close contact with SARS victims. They are being urged to stay home and must check in regularly with health officials over a 10-day period starting Monday or they could be fined or jailed.

 

Tung said Hong Kong schools, except for universities, will shut down early for spring break, closing from Saturday to April 6 as a precaution.

 

''For the sake of our health and for the sake of the health in our community, we must win this battle,'' Tung told a news conference.

 

The quarantine affects those who have visited SARS victims in hospitals or people who recently spent time on the ninth floor of Hong Kong's Metropole Hotel, where an infected mainland Chinese medical professor passed the disease to seven other people and started a global outbreak.

 

Singapore, which has suffered two deaths, has already quarantined 840 people who may have had contact with victims and on Thursday shut all of its schools through April 6.

 

The Rolling Stones postponed a pair of weekend rock concerts in Hong Kong due to disease fears, and three rugby teams France, Italy and Argentina pulled out of a weekend tournament in the former British colony.

 

In Canada, health authorities in the most populous province have advised hundreds of people to quarantine themselves to try to stop the spread of the illness. The move is part of a health emergency declared Wednesday in Ontario due to an outbreak of SARS that has killed three people and sickened dozens of others.

 

Chinese authorities revealed Wednesday that 34 people in the mainland had died from SARS, including 31 in Guangdong province, where officials had previously acknowledged just 305 infections and five deaths. China said almost 800 people had been infected.

 

World Health Organization doctors indicated Wednesday for the first time that they were treating the Guangdong cases as part of the SARS outbreak, which apparently spread globally from Hong Kong after an infected mainland Chinese medical professor gave it to seven people at a hotel last month.

 

China made its latest disclosures on the disease with three deaths also reported in Beijing after coming under sharp international criticism and repeated requests by WHO to be more forthcoming in its cooperation and more diligent in tracking cases.

[tonado]

From NYtimes

 

Hong Kong Quarantines 1,000 and Closes Schools

By KEITH BRADSHER

 

 

HONG KONG, March 27 — Top officials ordered tonight the quarantine of more than 1,000 people here and the closing of all primary and secondary schools for nine days as the number of people infected by a new respiratory disease climbed sharply higher.

 

Hong Kong's Health Department announced this evening that 51 more patients had been hospitalized with pneumonia and other symptoms of SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome. It was the biggest single-day jump yet in the number of cases and brought the total to 367.

 

Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's chief executive, appealed at a news conference this evening for sick people to come forward. While no cure has been found, progress had been made in treating the symptoms, especially when the disease is caught early, he noted.

 

"For our health, and for the health of our community, we have to win this battle," Mr. Tung said.

 

There has been growing criticism here of mainland China for having told Hong Kong officials almost nothing about the disease from when doctors encountered the first few cases in adjacent Guangdong Province until mid-March. China admitted on Wednesday that 792 cases of the disease had been recorded by the end of February and that 31 people had died.

 

Mr. Tung, an ally of Beijing, did not directly address the subject when asked about it this evening. He said only that the mainland had agreed to establish a process soon for close cooperation with Hong Kong on health issues.

 

Britain handed over Hong Kong to China in 1997, but Hong Kong has retained separate legal, economic and health systems.

 

Dr. Yeoh Eng-kiong, Hong Kong's secretary of health, welfare and food, said at the same news conference tonight that there had been some hopeful signs. Many of the earliest patients have begun to recover, although in some cases after nearly a month in hospital.

 

While only 19 of the 367 infected people have been discharged from hospital so far, and 11 have died, another 60 hospital patients appear to have recovered in the last few days, Dr. Yeoh said. They are only being held a few extra days to make sure that the new virus is completely gone from their systems, he added.

But Dr. Yeoh warned residents to expect further new cases in the days to come. "How much virus there is in the community, we don't know," Dr. Yeoh conceded.

 

Today's measures drew immediate criticism from opposition politicians, as being belated and still too limited.

 

"Obviously it's too late," said Emily Lau, the convener of the Frontier Council, the second-largest pro-democracy party in the Legislative Council here.

 

Singapore decided on Monday to close all schools and quarantine in their homes the more than 800 people there who have been in contact with the city-state's 69 victims. Hong Kong has had more than four times as many infected people and Singapore's first three victims are believed to have been infected here.

 

When Singapore first announced its quarantine, Hong Kong health officials said that they did not have comparable legal powers. But Dr. Yeoh said tonight that an old colonial ordinance, unused for decades, gave his department what he described as "very draconian powers."

 

The government will order 1,080 family members of SARS victims to stay home except for daily visits to government clinics to check for the disease. Those who violate the quarantine face fines of up to $640 and up to six months in jail.

 

Nearly a thousand more people who have had limited contact with patients will be asked to keep the Health Department informed of their health.

 

Ms. Lau said that Mr. Tung and his top aides should have been wearing face masks when they appeared at a news conference tonight to announce their initiatives. Some reporters wore them, but none of Hong Kong's top officials did.

 

"I've been wearing it for several days, except when I'm eating," Ms. Lau said.

 

Dr. Yeoh defended the decision by the territory's top officials not to wear masks for the news conference, saying that people should not be stigmatized for people wearing them.

 

"Most of the public has come to terms with wearing masks, so there is no need to set an example," he said.

 

Prof. Malik Peiris, the chief of virology at Hong Kong University, announced at a separate news conference this afternoon that a new diagnostic test had been developed for the presence of the virus that apparently causes SARS. The test takes just eight hours to produce results.

 

Arthur Li, Hong Kong's secretary of education and manpower, said that a million primary and secondary students will not be allowed to attend school from Saturday through April 6.

 

Mr. Tung also announced tonight that Hong Kong would begin requiring all visitors to fill out a health declaration upon arrival. Health Department employees will be posted at border crossings and the airport to observe travelers and assess their health.

[rocksplit]

Sadly just came to see this:

 

Doctor Who Identified Mystery Respiratory Illness Dies

 

GENEVA (AP) -- The World Health Organization doctor who first identified the outbreak of a global mystery illness died of the disease Saturday.

 

Italian Dr. Carlo Urbani, 46, a WHO expert on communicable diseases, died in Thailand, where he was being treated after becoming infected while working in Vietnam, the U.N. agency said.

 

Urbani -- who worked in public health programs in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam -- was the first doctor to identify severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in an American businessman admitted to a Hanoi, Vietnam, hospital. The businessman later died.

 

So far, at least 55 people have died from SARS.

 

WHO said Urbani's work allowed it to increase its surveillance of the disease rapidly, and many new cases were identified and isolated before hospital staff became infected.

 

``Carlo was a wonderful human being and we are all devastated,'' said Pascale Brudon, the WHO Representative in Vietnam.

 

``Carlo was the one who very quickly saw that this was something very strange. When people became very concerned in the hospital, he was there every day, collecting samples, talking to the staff and strengthening infection control procedures.''

 

Urbani, who was married with three children, was also president of Doctors Without Borders-Italy.

 

``Carlo Urbani's death saddens us all deeply at WHO,'' WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland said. ``His life reminds us again of our true work in public health. Today, we should all pause for a moment and remember the life of this outstanding physician.''

 

SARS has sickened 1,485 people, with the most cases and deaths occurring in China's southern Guangdong province, where an earlier outbreak began in November.

[Eric&Yuhui]

Sad

What's the CDC advance on this?

Is USAMRIID involved to? I would think so.

[tonado]

It is so scary. I hope the USA customs won't stop people from Southern China/HK coming to USA.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Still no effective treatment for deadly disease; U.S. expands travel advisory

 

 

By Daniel Yee, Associated Press, 3/29/2003 17:06

ATLANTA (AP) U.S. health officials said Saturday that none of the antiviral drugs and other treatment they have tested are effective against a flu-like disease that has killed at least 54 people and sickened nearly 1,500 others around the world.

 

They also expanded their travel advisory, suggesting that anyone planning nonessential travel to mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore or Hanoi, Vietnam, ''may wish to postpone their trips until further notice.''

 

''The global epidemic continues to expand,'' said Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ''We recognize this as an epidemic that is evolving.''

 

The CDC has reported 62 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, in the United States, and at least 35 cases have been reported in Canada, where three people have died.

 

But the majority of the cases have been in Asia, where the illness is believed to have originated.

 

On Saturday, the first doctor to realize the world was dealing with an unfamiliar disease died of the illness in Thailand. Dr. Carlo Urbani, 46, of Italy, a World Health Organization expert on communicable diseases, became infected while working in Vietnam, where he diagnosed a U.S. businessman hospitalized in Hanoi, the U.N. agency said. The businessman later died.

 

U.S. health officials believe illness comes from a new form of coronavirus, the virus that causes about a fifth of all colds.

 

Gerberding said Saturday that no successful drugs or treatments had yet been found.

 

''We have no evidence that any specific antiviral, steroid treatment or other agents that are targeting this virus have any benefit to patients,'' she said.

 

Two possible diagnostic tests that detect antibodies, indicating a person's immune system has reacted to the virus, are under development, and CDC officials hope to soon be able to supply those tests to state health departments, CDC officials said.

 

In Hong Kong, the number of people suffering from flu-like disease increased sharply Saturday to 12 people killed and 470 sickened. Hong Kong health secretary Dr. Yeoh Eng-kiong said more residents likely will become sick. More than 1,000 have been quarantined.

 

Thousands of Hong Kong residents donned surgical masks but many others refused to venture out, and activity in the usually bustling city stopped. Schools were closed and some companies shut down after workers became sick.

 

Singapore, which has had two deaths, nearly doubled the number of people quarantined to more than 1,500 on Friday.

 

The illness appears to have originated in China, which has been criticized for being slow in reporting cases. WHO officials who went to China to investigate the disease said Beijing has promised to improve monitoring of the illness, with daily updates from every province.

 

''We are desperate to know more about the scope and the magnitude of'' SARS in China, Gerberding said. ''It's the biggest predictor of where this will be headed in coming weeks.''

[Eric&Yuhui]

Likely won't stop, but can't blame them to scrutinize... Wouldn't want a pandemic like the 1918 European flu....

 

Years ago,,,, I read a book called whose title I forgot... About bio-hazards...

The title page said " The virus is the single most dangerous threat to the survival of humankind "

 

Now, that's scary....

 

Want a great movie ? Go watch "Outbreak".. Dustin hoffman plays a USAMRIID Doctor-Colonel... Scary

[Jatuke]

I'm starting to get paranoid about this SARS.

[owenkrout]

Your not the only one starting to worry a bit, Jatuke. I read the UN Report on Chemical and Biological Weapons many years ago and still remember that the reason that a virus doesn't really make a good weapon is that it is impossible to control. If it is indeed a variety of the common cold, that is bad news as that is one that has eluded efforts to develop a vaccine or an effective treatment for many years. Having the WHO Doc who discovered it succumb to it is really worrisome. Seems that he would be able to get whatever treatment was needed. One of the things they are trying to avioid right now is that any disease can be controlled realitively easily earlier in an outbreak but once it reaches a certain critical number of cases, it begins to spread like wildfire. Basically like reaching a critical mass in a nuclear chain reaction.

 

Gee, probably have the governments on both sides of the Pacific reading this by now, used enough words like virus, outbreak, nuclear.

[Mick]

This is a nightmare that seems to be getting worse with each passing day. I followed this very closely prior to leaving China. I am relieved to see that the Chinese government is now more forthright in its release of information regarding the actual number of cases. Guangdong in general and Guangzhou in particular seem to be the hardest hit. On the flight homeward I paid close attention to my surroundings. No one seemed unduly ill or coughing, etc. Upon deplaning in LA they were passing out little information papers on the illness, describing its symptoms, etc. Did see one girl, Chinese, in the waiting area of one of the gates at LAX who was very ill. Paramedics showed up, examined her, and took her away.

 

I don't want to sound alarmist but this thing is a cause for great concern. I encourage all to pray and stay well informed. Special thanks to Tony for being so diligent in providing up to date info over the past weeks. While in China, I had little access to it and was very concerned. This disease was one of the factors in the decision that Li and I made to leave earlier than we planned to. It is downright scary to say the least.

[chinadave2001]

I have a trip scheduled for Beijing and Qingdao in three weeks. Should I cancel it, even though these areas are far from GZ? As a school teacher, I would hate to bring this thing back with me. Thoughts? I am leaning towards canceling, but at the same time feel that I am over-reacting....

Dave

[rocksplit]

Dave, unfortunately your only option is to trust your instincts and rationally weigh the dangers.

 

Personally I would be glad to go. I favor thought and positive composure apart of just weighing probability and insurance policy, yet who would question their necessity? The fact remains you’re almost certainly exposed too much greater danger on the way to the airport. It is scary , uncertainty is .

[tonado]

Only travel if it is necessary.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday March 30, 9:23 PM

Fears grow as HK reports big jump in virus cases

By Carrie Lee

 

HONG KONG, March 30 (Reuters) - Hong Kong reported a sharp rise in pneumonia virus cases on Sunday, more than half of them in a single apartment building, as Thailand and Singapore stepped up curbs on air travellers.

 

Singapore's health ministry said from Monday, nurses will be mobilised to meet all incoming flights from affected areas, to check ill passengers.

 

"Based on the latest information, this disease is more infectious than we thought," Singapore's Health Minister Lim Hng Kiang told reporters.

 

Hong Kong Health Secretary Yeoh Eng-kiong told local television on Sunday that infections leapt by 60 to 530 in the crowded city and that one more person had died of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), taking the toll to 13.

 

"The numbers will go up for one or two weeks," the minister added, a prediction that will fuel the fears of the city's seven million residents as officials try to rein in a disease that has killed 58 people across the world and infected 1,612.

 

Scores of cases from one Hong Kong apartment block have raised fears the virus could be airborne rather than spread by droplets from sneezing or coughing as previously thought.

 

At Amoy Gardens in urban Kowloon, the number of residents infected has soared from seven mid-week to 121 on Sunday, baffling health officials.

 

Panic-stricken residents, wearing face masks and gloves, moved out of the estate, and shops and restaurants were deserted or shut.

 

"I'm scared. I'm taking my temperature every day," said one woman resident. "I stayed at home for several days. It's terrifying. I think I'll get it sooner or later."

 

The government urged the territory's families to clean their homes on Sunday in a bid to contain the spread of SARS. Authorities were disinfecting public parks. Taxi drivers were cleaning their vehicles. Schools were already closed.

 

HUNT FOR PASSENGERS

 

Health officials say the virus, identified by Hong Kong scientists as belonging to a family of viruses that cause colds, first surfaced in southern China in November and has since been spread by air travellers around the world.

 

Worst hit have been China, with 34 dead and more than 800 infected, and Singapore, Vietnam, Canada, Taiwan and Thailand. North America and Europe have also reported infections.

 

Singapore has closed all schools and placed more than 1,500 people under house quarantine.

 

Hong Kong authorities said they were urgently tracing 222 passengers and 15 crew members on last Wednesday's Dragonair flight KA 901 from Beijing after one passenger was found to have caught the disease and was now in hospital.

 

Thailand said on Sunday it would quarantine for at least 24 hours any incoming travellers suspected to be infected, and issued another travel warning urging Thais to avoid visiting China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam.

 

Singapore's Civil Aviation Authority ordered all airlines operating at Changi international airport to ask passengers questions recommended by the World Health Organisation before allowing them to board flights to the city state.

 

Any visibly unwell passenger would be asked to obtain a doctor's certificate before being allowed on board a flight, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

 

It also one more person has died from SARS in Singapore, bringing the toll to three and the number of infected to 91.

 

TRAVEL WARNINGS

 

The travel restrictions come after the United States on Saturday added all of China and Singapore to a growing list of destinations for tourists and business travellers to avoid.

 

The travel warnings and the war in Iraq have slashed tourists in parts of Asia and regional airlines have been forced to cut flights.

 

Hong Kong, which has suffered two economic slowdowns in five years and outbreaks of a deadly bird flu, has been hit especially hard by SARS.

 

Residents shun public places like shopping arcades and restaurants, preferring the company of family and close friends. Detergents and bleach, which doctors say can kill the bug, are the next hottest-selling items after masks.

 

"I feel so helpless. I may get infected in the next second. Why do we need a war when something so small can kill us?" postgraduate student Karen Cheung writes in an emotional email to friends. "All I can do is wear my mask."

[Guest blsqueaky]

Well right now after reading all of this, I am thinking some like Dave. I have plans to travel to GZ end of the month, but right now some what scared. Just got over the flu here, and I remember when my fiance's father was hospitalized with the flu the end of the year.

 

I know that my first reservations where to travel thru HK, but with a 4 hour layover, re-did to travel directly from LA to GZ.

 

I guess just now wait another 2 weeks and see what happens.