Z Hong-Kongu poshyrjujet'sja smertel'no nebezpechnyj virus?
03/17/2003 | Franko
(Pereproshuju za runglish)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030316/ap_on_he_me/mystery_illness_4
Yahoo! news povidomljaje, shcho z Hong-Kongu poshyrjujet'sja smertel'no nebezpechnyj virus. Eksperty vvazhajut' xvorobu nebezpechnoju mutacijeju pnevmoniji chy grypu i duzhe zanepokojeni. Zagynulo vzhe devjatero ljudej - semero v Aziji i dvoje p Pivnichnoji Ameryky. Vsesvitnja Organizacija Oxorony Zdorov*ja rozislaly vsesvitnje poperedzhennja v zvjazku z zagrozoju.
Inkubacijnyj period vid 3 do 7 dniv, symptomy sxozhi na gryp. Dali jde kashel', zapalennja legeniv i smert' vid rozladu dyxannja.
A deadly, mysterious respiratory illness spread largely among health care workers in Asia could
be a new strain of flu or even an exotic virus passed from animals to people, a health official
said Sunday.
Probably the most feared by health experts, however,
would be a new and deadly strain of flu.
The illness, which carries flu-like symptoms, has killed nine
people - seven in Asia and two in North America. Its rapid
spread in southeast Asia in recent weeks caused a rare
worldwide health alert to be issued on Saturday.
Health officials say it may be several more days before they
are able to identify the disease. However, they said several
of its features suggest it is caused by a virus, which can
often be difficult to pinpoint quickly using standard lab
tests.
"Certainly influenza is on the minds of many people," said
Dr. David Heymann, communicable diseases chief for the
World Health Organization (news - web sites).
Lab tests have ruled out some varieties of flu as well as
some viruses that cause hemorrhagic fever. However, many
other possibilities remain, Heymann said.
Those include "a new strain of influenza" or such exotic diseases as the closely related Hendra
and Nipah viruses - both newly recognized, causing flu-like symptoms and capable of being
spread from animals to people.
"If it really is the flu, it could be we have a new organism that could cause a pandemic," said Dr.
R. Bradley Sack, director of Johns Hopkins' international travel clinic. "People immediately start
thinking of 1917," the year a worldwide flu epidemic killed at least 20 million people.
Experts discounted the possibility that terrorism is the source and believe it almost certainly is a
contagious infection that spreads most easily from victims to their doctors, nurses and families
through coughing, sneezing and other contact with nasal fluids.
"Nothing about that pattern suggests bioterrorism," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) in Atlanta.
Officials said they are encouraged that some recent victims seem to be recovering, although
they are unsure whether that is because of the many antibiotic and antiviral drugs they have
been given or simply the natural course of the disease.
Heymann said three or four patients had stabilized enough to be moved out of intensive care
Sunday in Hanoi, Vietnam, although all still had breathing problems.
The illness is being called "severe acute respiratory syndrome," or SARS. The incubation period
appears to be three to seven days. It often begins with a high fever and other flu-like
symptoms, such as headache and sore throat. Victims typically develop coughs, pneumonia,
shortness of breath and other breathing difficulties. Death results from respiratory failure.
The World Health Organization has been aware of the outbreak for about three weeks but
issued its global alert this weekend because of concern that the illness would spread to North
America and Europe.
The WHO estimates that perhaps 500 people in all have been sickened if an earlier outbreak that
peaked last month in Guangdong province in China turns out to be part of the same disease, as
they suspect it is.
Ninety percent of the most recent cases have been in health care workers.
The CDC prepared cards that were being given to travelers arriving from Hanoi, Hong Kong or
Guangdong province in China, warning they may have been exposed. It recommended they see
a doctor if they get a fever accompanied by a cough or difficulty breathing over the next week.
Investigators suspect a virus is involved, because victims do not seem to
respond well to standard antibiotics, which kill only bacteria, and because
their white blood counts drop. That typically happens with viral infections but
not bacterial ones.
Few drugs exist for treating viral diseases and often they must run their
course until brought under control by the body's natural immune defenses.
Tests so far have ruled out the H5N1 bird flu, which has popped up
occasionally in China and which many fear could be catastrophic if it spread
widely among humans.
No cases have been confirmed in the United States, but Gerberding said the
CDC is checking out a few calls. The North American fatalities were a woman
and her grown son who died in Toronto after visiting Hong Kong.
A 32-year-old physician from Singapore suspected of having the disease
was taken off an airliner during a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany, on Saturday
after being in New York City for a medical conference. He was held in
quarantine, along with his mother, who had a fever, and his wife, who
remained healthy.
However, on Sunday, the man's physician, Dr. Hanns-Reinhardt Brodt, said
he was uncertain the case was SARS; he was treating him for ordinary
pneumonia.
Also on Sunday, the WHO released a report from the China Ministry of Health
on the Guangdong outbreak, which said "the epidemic situation has been
controlled and the patients are being cured one by one."
In that outbreak, the Chinese said, most victims were young adults, and the
disease apparently was spread similarly to SARS. The outbreak peaked
between Feb. 3 and 14 in Guangzhou City and has since decreased
markedly.
The Chinese said 7 percent of patients required breathing tubes, but most
eventually got better, especially if they were not also infected with bacteria.
The disease seemed to weaken as it passed from person to person.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030316/ap_on_he_me/mystery_illness_4
Yahoo! news povidomljaje, shcho z Hong-Kongu poshyrjujet'sja smertel'no nebezpechnyj virus. Eksperty vvazhajut' xvorobu nebezpechnoju mutacijeju pnevmoniji chy grypu i duzhe zanepokojeni. Zagynulo vzhe devjatero ljudej - semero v Aziji i dvoje p Pivnichnoji Ameryky. Vsesvitnja Organizacija Oxorony Zdorov*ja rozislaly vsesvitnje poperedzhennja v zvjazku z zagrozoju.
Inkubacijnyj period vid 3 do 7 dniv, symptomy sxozhi na gryp. Dali jde kashel', zapalennja legeniv i smert' vid rozladu dyxannja.
A deadly, mysterious respiratory illness spread largely among health care workers in Asia could
be a new strain of flu or even an exotic virus passed from animals to people, a health official
said Sunday.
Probably the most feared by health experts, however,
would be a new and deadly strain of flu.
The illness, which carries flu-like symptoms, has killed nine
people - seven in Asia and two in North America. Its rapid
spread in southeast Asia in recent weeks caused a rare
worldwide health alert to be issued on Saturday.
Health officials say it may be several more days before they
are able to identify the disease. However, they said several
of its features suggest it is caused by a virus, which can
often be difficult to pinpoint quickly using standard lab
tests.
"Certainly influenza is on the minds of many people," said
Dr. David Heymann, communicable diseases chief for the
World Health Organization (news - web sites).
Lab tests have ruled out some varieties of flu as well as
some viruses that cause hemorrhagic fever. However, many
other possibilities remain, Heymann said.
Those include "a new strain of influenza" or such exotic diseases as the closely related Hendra
and Nipah viruses - both newly recognized, causing flu-like symptoms and capable of being
spread from animals to people.
"If it really is the flu, it could be we have a new organism that could cause a pandemic," said Dr.
R. Bradley Sack, director of Johns Hopkins' international travel clinic. "People immediately start
thinking of 1917," the year a worldwide flu epidemic killed at least 20 million people.
Experts discounted the possibility that terrorism is the source and believe it almost certainly is a
contagious infection that spreads most easily from victims to their doctors, nurses and families
through coughing, sneezing and other contact with nasal fluids.
"Nothing about that pattern suggests bioterrorism," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news - web sites) in Atlanta.
Officials said they are encouraged that some recent victims seem to be recovering, although
they are unsure whether that is because of the many antibiotic and antiviral drugs they have
been given or simply the natural course of the disease.
Heymann said three or four patients had stabilized enough to be moved out of intensive care
Sunday in Hanoi, Vietnam, although all still had breathing problems.
The illness is being called "severe acute respiratory syndrome," or SARS. The incubation period
appears to be three to seven days. It often begins with a high fever and other flu-like
symptoms, such as headache and sore throat. Victims typically develop coughs, pneumonia,
shortness of breath and other breathing difficulties. Death results from respiratory failure.
The World Health Organization has been aware of the outbreak for about three weeks but
issued its global alert this weekend because of concern that the illness would spread to North
America and Europe.
The WHO estimates that perhaps 500 people in all have been sickened if an earlier outbreak that
peaked last month in Guangdong province in China turns out to be part of the same disease, as
they suspect it is.
Ninety percent of the most recent cases have been in health care workers.
The CDC prepared cards that were being given to travelers arriving from Hanoi, Hong Kong or
Guangdong province in China, warning they may have been exposed. It recommended they see
a doctor if they get a fever accompanied by a cough or difficulty breathing over the next week.
Investigators suspect a virus is involved, because victims do not seem to
respond well to standard antibiotics, which kill only bacteria, and because
their white blood counts drop. That typically happens with viral infections but
not bacterial ones.
Few drugs exist for treating viral diseases and often they must run their
course until brought under control by the body's natural immune defenses.
Tests so far have ruled out the H5N1 bird flu, which has popped up
occasionally in China and which many fear could be catastrophic if it spread
widely among humans.
No cases have been confirmed in the United States, but Gerberding said the
CDC is checking out a few calls. The North American fatalities were a woman
and her grown son who died in Toronto after visiting Hong Kong.
A 32-year-old physician from Singapore suspected of having the disease
was taken off an airliner during a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany, on Saturday
after being in New York City for a medical conference. He was held in
quarantine, along with his mother, who had a fever, and his wife, who
remained healthy.
However, on Sunday, the man's physician, Dr. Hanns-Reinhardt Brodt, said
he was uncertain the case was SARS; he was treating him for ordinary
pneumonia.
Also on Sunday, the WHO released a report from the China Ministry of Health
on the Guangdong outbreak, which said "the epidemic situation has been
controlled and the patients are being cured one by one."
In that outbreak, the Chinese said, most victims were young adults, and the
disease apparently was spread similarly to SARS. The outbreak peaked
between Feb. 3 and 14 in Guangzhou City and has since decreased
markedly.
The Chinese said 7 percent of patients required breathing tubes, but most
eventually got better, especially if they were not also infected with bacteria.
The disease seemed to weaken as it passed from person to person.