The next 'Black Plague'?

Ivan · 03-16-2003, 07:49 PM

Better keep our eyes closely on this one...

HONG KONG (March 16) -- Global health authorities were on the alert on Sunday for a severe type of pneumonia that has killed at least nine people, infected more than 100 and sparked a warning from the World Health Organization.

The spread of the disease has alarmed travelers. In Hong Kong's international airport, many people arriving from Taiwan, Singapore and elsewhere were wearing surgical masks.

"There's nothing we can do about it, so we have to take precautions," one visitor told Hong Kong's Cable TV.

Cathay Pacific airline said it had ordered staff not to check in passengers showing symptoms of illness and to refer them for medical assessment.

A spokesman for the Geneva-based WHO said there were reports two people from the same family had died in Canada, taking the death toll to nine worldwide since the first outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an atypical pneumonia whose cause is not yet known, was detected in China in February.

The disease infected four other members of the Canadian family, and on Saturday a woman who had been in close contact with them fell sick with the symptoms, Canadian health authorities said on Sunday.

"This syndrome, SARS, is now a worldwide health threat," WHO director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland said in a statement.

The illness, which starts with flu-like symptoms such as coughing, high fever and shortness of breath, can deteriorate rapidly into pneumonia.

Dozens of people in Hong Kong and Vietnam, many of them hospital staff, are also infected and numbers have been rising steadily in Singapore and Taiwan.

U.S. health officials said on Saturday they were investigating reports that two people passing through Atlanta and New York had the illness. They gave no other details.

Six more infections were reported in Hong Kong and Singapore on Sunday. WHO said it had also received reports of cases in Indonesia and Thailand, but it gave no details.

In southern China, 305 people contracted severe pneumonia in February and five died. WHO and other experts are studying if there are links between these cases and others elsewhere.

EMERGENCY TRAVEL ADVISORY

Cathay said one of its passengers had respiratory problems during a flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver on March 6. It was checking if any of its staff had come into contact with the man.

In a rare emergency travel advisory, WHO said a Singapore doctor who treated some of the first pneumonia patients in the island republic had been taken ill and had to be removed from a plane in Frankfurt. He is now in an isolation unit.

A doctor in Frankfurt said the 32-year-old patient's condition had worsened on Sunday and he would stay in isolation as long as there was a suspicion he had been infected.

Doctor Hans Brodt said the man's 62-year old mother-in-law was also on the isolation unit as she had developed a high fever. His pregnant wife had not shown any signs of the illness. She was in quarantine.

The two women had accompanied the doctor from Singapore on a trip to New York for a medical conference. The man had already shown symptoms of fever and aching bones on his flight to New York, Brodt said.

In Hong Kong, the government has repeatedly played down fears of the virus spreading outside the medical community.

But the Apple Daily newspaper said two women who had probably caught pneumonia while visiting Hangzhou, China, were rushed to hospital on return to Hong Kong on Saturday.

A family of six who recently visited the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai also developed flu-like symptoms after returning to Hong Kong. One of them was now showing signs of pneumonia, the paper said.

EFFECTIVE TREATMENT

The Hong Kong government has said only that there were no signs of any unusual rise in the number of pneumonia cases. There are about 300 cases a week.

Two more hospital staff were themselves hospitalized on Sunday, bringing to 49 the number of cases in Hong Kong, with 42 of them battling severe pneumonia, up from 37 on Saturday.

Health Minister Yeoh Eng-kiong said two patients who had been seriously ill were recovering and one would be discharged soon.

"We have effective treatment, but it's not 100 percent," Yeoh said, adding that some patients had responded well to a combination of anti-viral drugs and steroids.

An American businessman died in Hong Kong on Thursday after being flown from Hanoi with respiratory problems.

Four more people in Singapore showed symptoms of the illness on Sunday, bringing the total to 20. Three of them were recently in Hong Kong and the rest are either family, close friends or medical staff who had been taking care of the three.

In Taiwan, three people have contracted the disease, with two of them having visited southern China recently.

France and Japan have sent medical experts to Vietnam, where 46 hospital staff are ill in Hanoi. A Hanoi nurse died of the virus on Saturday.

REUTERS Rtr 12:54 03-16-03

monte · 03-17-2003, 09:14 AM

The Spanish Lady wants to come back in town

I've been telling this to my friends for more than a month now

seriously if it spreads any further it can kill a LOT of people like it did in WW1, the bad thing is that it's especially deadly for those in our age group !

(youngsters) It's a plague that is carried by birds, only chickens and the like die because of it.

OAnimal · 03-17-2003, 05:37 PM

Scary stuff. <IMG SRC="http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/tales/grim.gif">

Porca Troia · 03-17-2003, 05:55 PM

ivan you are the black plague...the bearer of bad news....in any event they already have a treatment for this minor outbreak.

ItalianBoy · 03-17-2003, 09:28 PM

A porca, che sei tornato?
Well yes I think one plague are for sure Ivans posts and I agree with what porca said.

barça · 03-17-2003, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ItalianBoy
A porca, che sei tornato?

I was going to ask you the same!

ItalianBoy · 03-17-2003, 09:39 PM

Yep.

Andrija PFC · 03-18-2003, 04:03 AM

Blah blah porca, they just said on TV they have NO IDEA what the organism is. Not that I think it's the next black plague...

BLAUGRANA · 03-18-2003, 04:27 AM

Well, it didn't spread that much in China. Considering how many people are in China, I'd say it's not that big a threat then. Still, I wouldn't wanna get it. I rarely if ever get sick though.

Moon-Star · 03-18-2003, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ItalianBoy
A porca, che sei tornato?
Well yes I think one plague are for sure Ivans posts and I agree with what porca said.

i agree with u guys.....

monte · 03-18-2003, 04:03 PM

There is no medicine that can cure this disease. At least it has not been discovered yet. Researches have been trying to find a cure for more than 60 years now without any result

scary sh*t.

I don't think it will be the next plague either because I think many sufficient precautions will be taken, something they did not think of during the first world war. However, plains can & do carry the bacterias with them which makes it a 'far away' disease that can knock on ur door in 24 hours....

Ivan · 03-28-2003, 12:00 AM

porca/italian/mooncrap..

I hear the US army is hiring... please sign up, so we never have to see your ugly faces around here again.

Lataralus · 03-28-2003, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ivan
porca/italian/mooncrap..

I hear the US army is hiring... please sign up, so we never have to see your ugly faces around here again.

why you disrespecting people? Also why are you disrespecting the US military? I happen to have friends in the US military...you're just mad they don't let punks like you in...

BLAUGRANA · 03-28-2003, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ivan
porca/italian/mooncrap..

I hear the US army is hiring... please sign up, so we never have to see your ugly faces around here again.

Since you're living over here, I was thinking you'd be interested in going over.

Ivan · 03-28-2003, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lataralus
why you disrespecting people? Also why are you disrespecting the US military? I happen to have friends in the US military...you're just mad they don't let punks like you in...

can your brain only comprehend 1 post a day? Did you not see their initial replies to me? You disrespect me, and I'll disrespect you right back. Also, one of my best friends is in the US Army ... probably the worst choice he ever made in his life - he is now stationed in Korea and he can't get out.

Blaug - I'm not interested in dying for a cause I don't believe in.