A mysterious pneumonia that left five people dead and some 300
hospitalized in south China's Guangdong Province was possibly
caused by a virus, which may not be identified for two more weeks,
disease control experts said.
Currently, experts at the Beijing-based Chinese Center for Disease
Control and Prevention are doing laboratory work in order to
discover exactly which virus caused the outbreak, Li Liming,
director of the center, told the press Thursday afternoon.
Liang Guodong, a viral disease expert with the center, said they
suspected viral pneumonia was the culprit since many patients were
doctors and nurses, who had close contact with other patients.
Liang returned from Guangdong, where he had been sent by the
Ministry of Health as a member of an investigation team.
Health experts called the illness "atypical pneumonia" because it
was not caused by pneumococcus, which leads to normal pneumonia.
Atypical pneumonia can have 17 different causes such as virus,
bacteria or mycoplasma, said Dr. Zhao Mingwu with the No. 3
Hospital of the Medical School of
Peking University.
The experts have excluded the possibility that the illness was
caused by the plague, anthrax, haemorrhage fever or leptospirosis,
which had been rumored to be causes.
Patients suffered acute symptoms including high fever, dry cough,
muscle pain and weakness when they were hospitalized. But now many
have recovered and left hospitals, Li said.
No
new cases have been discovered for four successive days in
Guangdong, which neighbors Hong Kong.
"The situation is under control and is stable. It is not as serious
as the rumors say," Li said, but Li stressed that the nation's
disease control institutions remained on high alert and were
keeping a close eye on the epidemic.
Li's center also maintained good communication with health
departments in Hong Kong and Macao, where the illness has been the
top concern in recent days.
The outbreak in Guangdong has aroused concerns nationwide since
unconfirmed news and rumors were disseminated via the Internet and
short messages on mobile phones.
Panic also prompted the craze to purchase traditional herbal
medicines, vinegar and surgical masks, which people believed could
keep the illness away.
But the experts in the center clarified that there was no evidence
that herbal medicines and vinegar could effectively block the
virus, and some exaggerated news reports have caused unnecessary
panic.
The center has suggested some preventative measures such as
improving ventilation in offices and homes, disinfecting the air in
hospitals, avoiding large crowds, wearing masks when in contact
with patients, keeping warm, and consulting a doctor when
experiencing suspicious symptoms.
(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2003)