Report on recent trip to GZ & SARS

[Don&MuSi]

Dear Friends,

 

I would like to give you a report on my recent trip to Guangzhou China. I and my fiance MuSi, went to the U.S. Embassy on April 10th. I had planned to do this to save time and the risk of my packet 3 being lost in the mail. I submitted the packet 3 info without incident. I will have to admit to you, my friends, we were concerned about SARS. I stayed in the Garden Hotel, a five star hotel. Unlike previous trips, we limited our site seeing and venturing outside the hotel. We thought that the safest place for us to be was in our room in the hotel. We also took all of the precautions using masks, gloves and hand wash to kill bacteria.

 

I left Guangzhou via China Southern and caught my connecting flight in Shanghai and back to San Francisco. After returning to the U.S., I put myself into voluntary quarantine for 10 days and have no symptoms. On the otherhand, my fiance who lives in NanNing, has developed a cough. She has none of the other symptoms related to SARS, but I am very concerned. I am a professional man and has dealt with many, many problems in my life time. But I will have to admit that this threat of SARS is a problem of which I have never encountered before. I feel helpless. MuSi speaks very little english. This creates a problem of communicating with her about this illness. She tells me that SARS is now in NanNing and is spreading quickly. You can see the dilemma that we are all in who have spent so much of our time and money to get our loved ones here with us in America. I believe our packet 4 will be in June or July. I hope we don't have to deal with this at that time. The process of Fiance Visa is long and demanding enough and now we have to deal with this threat contracting this horrible illness. I will not give up. My love for MuSi is deep and sincere. I will take any risks necessary to have her here with me in America. I wish all of you good luck.

 

Don & MuSi

[bobmal99]

Very well put, Lili and my prayers are with you and Musi.

[tparrent]

Good luck to you in everything. If MuSi continues with her precautions and maintains a healthy lifestyle, I am sure she will be fine.

 

Ling felt pretty bad a few days ago but the symptoms disappeared when she left Beijing. I think that we are all hypersensitive to even normal illness now because we fear it could be SARS. Keep MuSi's spirits up and I am sure that will make her feel better in all ways.

 

You have our good wishes.

[jameschun321]

You are pretty optimistic if you believe that packet 4 will come in June or July. It takes at least a month before GZ request a name check to DOS. The name check itself is taking anywhere from 1 to 6 months if there are no problems. It seems that due to a recent change in the name check process, the latter is more likely than the former. I am also in the process of waiting for the clearance. I called DOS last week and the rep said it is taking at least 3 months. I hope you are the exception and everything goes smoothly for all that is waiting.

 

JC

[wolf]

My Fiancee returned from GuangZhou two days ago and called me as soon as she was back in ShenZhen. She told me that she was feeling sick and had a fever. I told her to go right to the hospital for a check-up. She called a few hours later, it was nothing, just being overtired, but I told her not to take any chances. If she has a fever to go right to the hospital for a check-up. Better to be safe than sorry later. ShenZhen only has 33 cases now, so that is a good thing, but it is much cleaner than GuangZhou and other parts of China. I would suggest you all tell your wifes or Fiancee to go right to the hospital if they feel sick. I know most hate to go to the hospitals, but what else can we do?

[tonado]

One of my concern is mis-diagnosis of doctors on SARS. Since there is no actual way to test for SARS, they might put you away with other people with SARS if they think you have SARS. One you are quarantine with other people with SARS, you will definitely catch SARS. Maybe they just isolate everyone by himself (or herself). I doubt it.

[Myles]

Aloha from Hawaii,

I share your fears. My wife is in Shenzhen while waiting for her immigration

interview. Her interview is scheduled for May 13. I hope that nothig goes

wrong and that includes SARS.

Myles aka Annakuen,GG

[owenkrout]

One of my concern is mis-diagnosis of doctors on SARS.  Since there is no actual way to test for SARS, they might put you away with other people with SARS if they think you have SARS.  One you are quarantine with other people with  SARS, you will definitely catch SARS.  Maybe they just isolate everyone by himself (or herself). I doubt it.

The Chinese don't do anything by themselves. Being part of a group or a team is very important to them culturally. Here on our campus, the quarantined students are all in a communal livining environment, mixing freely.

[tonado]

Even if you recover from SARS, there is permanent lung scarring and possible cases of relapses.

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

Friday May 2, 7:33 PM

Beijing sees SARS peaking, rural China a worry

By Juliana Liu

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Friday the worst appeared to be over for SARS-stricken Beijing as international experts said China faced a crucial battle in the next few months to contain the virus and stop it spreading globally.

 

Liang Wannian, deputy director general of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, told a news conference the pneumonia-like disease was peaking in the capital, the hardest hit city in the world with 91 deaths and more than 1,600 cases.

 

Officials stressed it was too early to say when SARS would be brought under control in Beijing -- let alone in the vast country's rural areas, whose rickety healthcare system would be no match for a full-blown outbreak of the mysterious disease.

 

"Since April 21, the number of SARS patients in Beijing has entered the peak period," Liang said, adding the conclusion was based on figures released by the Health Ministry on Thursday.

 

"My personal judgment is the present high plateau of the number of cases in Beijing will continue for a period of time. Overall the situation in Beijing is stable, and the upward trend has been effectively checked," he said.

 

Cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in the capital will likely drop in the next 10 days, if the virus does not mutate, he said.

 

SARS has killed close to 200 people in China and infected nearly 4,000 since it emerged in the southern province of Guangdong late last year. Globally, it has infected more than 6,300 people in 30 countries, killing more than 400.

 

CRUCIAL MONTHS

 

The World Health Organisation said China was facing a critical period.

 

"The next few months will prove crucial in the attempt to contain SARS worldwide, which now greatly depends on whether the disease can be controlled in China," the WHO said in a statement on its Web site (www.who.int).

 

Doctors say immediately isolating SARS patients is key to preventing its spread and quick treatment may help patients survive. Symptoms include high fever, cough and pneumonia, and there is no standard treatment. It is mainly passed by droplets through sneezing and coughing.

 

But scientists are still puzzled by the virus as it has yielded virtually no clues about where it came from or why it infects and sometimes kills people.

 

"The fact that it is so different from other viruses has made it difficult," Mark Pallansch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters.

 

PEOPLE'S WAR ON SARS

 

China's President Hu Jintao called for a "People's War" on the disease during a trip to the industrial city of Tianjing, which experts say is poised to experience an outbreak because of its proximity to Beijing.

 

China has gone on a war footing to contain the disease after scathing criticism from health experts around the world over its belated and secretive response to the outbreak.

 

Cinemas and other recreational spots have been closed in Beijing, where about 12,000 people are under quarantine orders in the city of 14 million.

 

The city opened a new hospital for victims of the virus that was built in just eight days.

 

The Xiaotangshan Hospital in northern Beijing, boasting at least 90 million yuan ($11 million) worth of medical equipment, opened its doors after more than 7,000 builders rushed to erect the temporary facility.

 

But there were fresh worries in Hong Kong where doctors said they had discovered traces of the virus in the stool and urine of patients who had been infected but were later thought to be free of SARS. They also found evidence of permanent lung scarring and possible cases of relapses.

 

The disease is also taking a toll on Asian economies and Taiwan's parliament on Friday approved a $1.4 billion special fund to battle the virus, which has killed at least three people on the island and may have infected close to 200.

 

Its economic impact will also be the main talking point when Asia-Pacific trade ministers meet in Thailand next month and draw up plans to try and revive business confidence.

 

A British research firm, NTC Research said Hong Kong's economy shrank at its sharpest rate in nearly five years in April as SARS scared off consumers and tourists.

 

The Hong Kong government said it will not be able to meet its three percent economic growth target and unemployment is nearing record highs. Hong Kong has been hardest hit after China.

 

Singapore has had 24 deaths from the virus but strict precautionary measures, including quarantining more than 3,000 people, seem to be containing the disease as no new cases have been recorded in four of the past five days.

 

In Canada, the scramble was on to attract visitors put off by the SARS outbreak there and by the WHO's brief advisory to travellers to avoid Toronto.

 

But the Toronto area reported two more SARS cases, both in nurses. "For us, this is a setback," Dr. Donald Low, chief of microbiology at Mount Sinai Hospital, told Reuters. Canada has had 349 probable or suspected cases of SARS and 23 deaths.

[Guest seafloor06]

Dear Friends,

 

I would like to give you a report on my recent trip to Guangzhou China.

 

I and my fiance MuSi, went to the I left Guangzhou via China Southern and caught my connecting flight in Shanghai and back to San Francisco. After returning to the U.S., I put myself into voluntary quarantine for 10 days and have no symptoms. On the otherhand, my fiance who lives in NanNing, has developed a cough. She has none of the other symptoms related to SARS, but I am very concerned. I am a professional man and has dealt with many, many problems in my life time. But I will have to admit that this threat of SARS is a problem of which I have never encountered before. I feel helpless. MuSi speaks very little english. This creates a problem of communicating with her about this illness. She tells me that SARS is now in NanNing and is spreading quickly. You can see the dilemma that we are all in who have spent so much of our time and money to get our loved ones here with us in America. I believe our packet 4 will be in June or July. I hope we don't have to deal with this at that time. The process of Fiance Visa is long and demanding enough and now we have to deal with this threat contracting this horrible illness. I will not give up. My love for MuSi is deep and sincere. I will take any risks necessary to have her here with me in America. I wish all of you good luck.

 

Don & MuSi

From what I've read, she would initially present with a fever. If she only has a cough, she should be fine. It's not unusual to return home with a cough after travelling. I hope that's the case. Good luck and hope that visa will arrive soon.