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medpundit |
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Thursday, March 27, 2003A team of five experts sent to China by the World Health Organization to investigate a mysterious respiratory illness there has not been allowed to visit the province where the disease is thought to have originated in November, agency officials said yesterday. It is the second World Health Organization team since early February to be denied access to Guangdong Province, just north of Hong Kong. By now, the world knows the disease began in China, so it can’t be a case of trying to save face. So why are they stalling? Are they ashamed to show the world the state, or lack, of Chinese medicine? Or was this a bioweapon experiment gone awry? Similar events have happened before, but with agents less contagious. The Soviets had an accident at an anthrax plant that sent particles into the air and sickened people for miles downwind. But, with only a 4% mortality rate, this agent would be a poor choice as a bioweapon. More likely, they just don’t like scrutiny of any sort by outsiders. On an ironic note, one of the chief Hong Kong investigators has come down with the disease, motivating them to take it more seriously: Hong Kong officials played down the seriousness of SARS earlier this month. Dr. Yeoh Eng-kiong, Hong Kong's secretary of health, welfare and food, who has managed the SARS outbreak with Dr. William Ho, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, accused the World Health Organization of being too quick to sound an international alarm. Dr. Ho, who is one of two doctors overseeing the government's response to SARS, was confirmed as a SARS case yesterday after having been admitted to a hospital late Sunday night. Now that they’re taking it seriously, maybe they’ll try harder to contain it. Meanwhile, Singapore is taking it seriously enough to close schools and quarantine all contacts: Singapore announced it is to close all its schools for more than two weeks in a bid to contain the spread of a the virus which has killed at least 50 people around the world. All primary, secondary schools and junior colleges will be closed until April 6, an official in the government press office told CNN. The move to close Singapore's schools came after the city-state reported its first death from the condition. Hospitals in Singapore say they have at least 60 confirmed cases of the illness. The government has ordered more than 700 residents suspected of coming into contact with the virus to quarantine themselves at home for 10 days. And the WHO figures have jumped to 1,323 cases worldwide, but that jump is due to the addition of 792 cases now admitted by the Chinese, figures they were previously keeping secret. Still no word on whether or not they'll allow WHO authorities to enter the province,although it does look like they're being a little more helpful. posted by Sydney on 3/27/2003 07:49:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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