SARS more deadly than other respiratory diseases: Study<\/p>\n
William Foreman, Associated Press, Beijing<\/p>\n
World Health Organization (WHO) experts will go to a crowded
\nChinese province where Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
\nis spreading fast. And, as the known global death toll approached
\n500, new research published on Wednesday suggested the illness is
\nmuch more deadly than many other respiratory diseases,
\nparticularly for older patients.<\/p>\n
Beijing police said dogs, cats and other pets of quarantined
\npeople will be isolated or killed out of fear they might be
\ncarriers.<\/p>\n
The United States promised to work closer with China on SARS,
\nalthough a senior Chinese official was noncommittal about
\nproviding American scientists with biomedical specimens from
\npatients.<\/p>\n
At least 497 people have died around the world, with 11 new
\nfatalities in Hong Kong, five in China and two in Taiwan reported
\non Wednesday.<\/p>\n
More than 6,800 have been infected since the disease surfaced
\nin China's southern province of Guangdong in November.<\/p>\n
New findings in Britain's Lancet medical journal show that
\nSARS is killing one in five patients hospitalized with the virus
\nin hard-hit Hong Kong, including 55 percent of infected patients
\naged over 60. In younger patients, the death rate could be as low
\nas 6.8 percent.<\/p>\n
"That's sadly still very high for a respiratory infection,"
\nsaid Roy Anderson, an epidemiologist at London's Imperial College
\nwho headed the study. "In other common respiratory infections it
\nis much less than 1 percent in the vulnerable elderly."<\/p>\n
The research - conducted with the University of Hong Kong and
\nHong Kong health authorities - is the first major study of SARS
\ntrends, but was based only on data from Hong Kong, where at least
\n204 people have died.<\/p>\n
Scientists and agencies differ over what an average person's
\nchances worldwide are of dying of SARS. The U.S. Centers for
\nDisease Control and Prevention puts the overall death rate at 6.6
\npercent. WHO says it ranges from 6 percent to 10 percent.<\/p>\n
In Hong Kong on Wednesday, masked health workers and weeping
\ngovernment officials attended the funeral of a nurse who was the
\nterritory's first medical professional to die after treating SARS
\npatients. Lau Wing-kai, 38, died April 26 and was hailed as a
\n"people's hero."<\/p>\n
Severe acute respiratory syndrome continues to hit China
\ndespite mass quarantines, roadblocks, travel restrictions and
\nsome school shutdowns. There has been some progress, though. The
\nnumber of new cases reported on Wednesday, 159, was below 200 for
\nthe fourth consecutive day.<\/p>\n
A WHO investigative team is to travel Thursday to the densely
\npopulated northern province of Hebei, where the number of SARS
\ninfections has doubled to 98 between April 30 and May 4.<\/p>\n
Hebei province borders Beijing - which has been the worst
\naffected by the SARS epidemic.<\/p>\n
Chinese authorities fear SARS has the potential to devastate
\npoor populations in the country's hinterlands.<\/p>\n
"SARS prevention in vast rural areas is a key component of the
\nfight against the disease," Premier Wen Jiabao was quoted as
\nsaying by the official Xinhua news agency. "It is vital to the
\nhealth of farmers, to rural economic and social development and
\nalso to the overall success of the anti-SARS battle."<\/p>\n
In Taiwan, authorities ordered the closing and disinfecting of
\na big department store if a cashier with SARS-like symptoms is
\ndiagnosed as a positive case.<\/p>\n
In the Philippines, Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Sin ordered
\npriests to prevent "mass hysteria" over SARS. Last month, Sin
\nurged the faithful to receive communion wafers by hand instead
\ndirectly in the mouth, and discouraged people from the common
\npractice of kissing public religious statues.<\/p>\n
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson
\nsaid Chinese Vice Premier and Health Minister Wu Yi agreed to
\ncooperate in training and lab development while more U.S. health
\nadvisers would go to China.<\/p>\n
Thompson said that in a telephone call Monday night, Wu was
\nnoncommittal when asked if China would give U.S. experts
\nspecimens from Chinese patients at various stages of infection.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention downgraded
\nits travel advisory against nonessential travel to Singapore to a
\ntravel alert. It downgraded its travel advisory for Vietnam on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
A Singapore health official said the city-state will declare
\nits SARS outbreak under control if no more new cases are found in
\nthe next 10 days.<\/p>",
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