AIDS, SARS, bird flu, move over

[con's fly is open]

Aw, geez...

Chinese mystery illness kills 17, pig link sought
Last Updated Mon, 25 Jul 2005 13:51:01 EDT
CBC News
Another mystery illness that may have jumped from livestock to humans is stumping health officials in southern China.

So far, it has killed 17 people and sickened 41 others, 12 critically. They were members of farming families who ate ill pigs or sheep in the southwestern province of Sichuan, officials said.

Authorities suspect the culprit is streptococcus suis, a type of bacteria most often found in pigs that causes a poisoning-related shock syndrome in people.

Symptoms included high fever, nausea, vomiting, bruises under the skin and later coma.

"I can assure you that the disease is absolutely not SARS, anthrax or bird flu," provincial health official Zeng Huajin was quoted as saying in the China Daily newspaper.

A government health and agricultural team arrived in Sichuan last week to help local officials, the paper reported.

Rural Chinese farming families often live in close proximity to the animals they raise. And markets in densely populated cities can be seen stacked high with caged livestock ready for slaughter.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was believed to come from civet cats, an exotic meat in southwestern China. Humans can get anthrax poisoning from infected cattle or sheep, while bird flu is named for its source.

Chinese officials are trying to stem an outbreak of bird flu in the country's western region that has killed thousands of migratory birds. Officials say it has not jumped to humans.

Beijing is sensitive to how it handles outbreaks after global criticism for slow disclosure about SARS, which eventually killed more than 800 people worldwide – including 44 people in Toronto.

A spokesman for the World Health Organization office in Manila said Chinese officials had reported regularly and the situation did not appear to be out of control.

"We don't think we've seen numbers on this scale before, but it might be because of a heightened surveillance system," Bob Dietz said.

[Mr Nobody]

SARS is not believed to have come from civet cats by anyone except ignorant politicians or their spin doctors. Last I heard, it was believed to be a standard type mutation from a Guangzhou hospital. Civet cats and other animals were exterminated, I believe, so the govt would be seen to be doing something.

The only worry here, is the bruising under the skin. Sounds ominous. But then both vitamin C deficiency and vit C poisoning cause this.

Also, there is rarely a problem until it passes from human to human. (there are exceptions)

[con's fly is open]

Fortuantely for me, these things always seem to happen in south China. Wow, Pestilence is on a real tear the last couple of years- he and War are kicking Famine's ass.

[Mr Nobody]

Pestilence was always the big player. Even the common ordinary flu has killed more than war.

(Ektuerly, Pestilence was once specifically "the Pest" or Pasteurella Pestis, the Plague. Now it has come to mean any epidemic, especially pandemics, which I am sure all of you know, or at least sit on the edge of your seats with gripping desire for more information)

[Raoul Duke]

As proprietor of an establishment that bought over 200 tons of civet cat meat when the price tanked a few years ago, let me assure you that all those aspersions cast upon civet cat were mere silly superstitions.

Trust us.

[gengrant]

hey, Raoul...as long as the civet is cooked 'well' and your chefs continue to make those great jiaozi and burger specials...I'm eatin' here! YUMMY!

[Mr Nobody]

Personally, I can't tell civet cat from real cat, so I don't mind eating the cheaper, more endangered species, simply to be able to say "I ate one before they became extinct".

[Raoul Duke]

Meanwhile, I read in today's International Herald-Tribune that the death toll in Sichuan has now risen to 27.

On a lighter note, there are some species to whose extinction I personally plan to contribute. I have specifically targeted the Gulf Shrimp. I have developed a recipe that involves knocking the heads off of all the undersea gas wells, igniting them, and bringing the entire Gulf of Mexico to a boil as C47 cargo planes fly over and dump in vast loads of cut lemons and Old Bay spice mix...

Ya gotta think big if you ever want to accomplish anything in this world.

[Mr Nobody]

Anyone got a recipe for mosquito pie? Cane Toad fricassee perhaps?

Why is it that the species that really need to go can't be made tasty?

[Canuck]

SARS is caused by an evolved/morphed form of the corona virus.. the same virus that causes a cold. I was in Toronto in 2003 and paid very close attention to this. The word at that time was that it was created in came from a lab somewhere in Southern China. That it somehow escaped the lab and or became air borne. There was also no definitive method to determine if a person had SARS, a cold or a flu. If you had any of the symptoms you were instantly quarantined. A problem even in Toronto was that the government of Ontario set up emergency treatment centers and failed to tell people where they were, and some of them weren't open. It was general chaos, panic and flying by the seat of their pants. I drove courier in Toronto that summer and every time I delivered a package I had to disinfect my hands and sign an affidavit.

[Mr Nobody]

Except that it wasn't 'created' in a lab as in by insane scientists or incompetent doctors or anything, it mutated in a hospital, natural change. Hospital lab, fine, whatever you want to call it. "escaped" makes it sound so sinister. The Hospital was suspected to be a particular one, in Guangzhou. They weren't absolutely sure when I last checked, way back when.

I was following the scientific reports and relaying summaries to freinds in China and HK who couldn't get them. (or understand them)

I still have the transcripts somewhere on my hard drive, no doubt. Not this one, though, but I did bring it with me. Can look if anyone really wants to know.

And you never could catch it by contact. There was no indication you could catch it except by prolonged exposure to an infected person. Airborne only, as well. So the whole parcel/hands sterilization is nearly as irresponsible as the civet cat thing, only you would expect a civilized country to be more, well, responsible.

[con's fly is open]

Hey, they're learning to wash their hands, albeit for the wrong reasons. False sense of security, yes, but hygiene habits are a kind of technology.

[Mr Nobody]

Yeah, well, it was Canuckistan I was referring to.

I don't think anyone in China started washing their hands.

[Canuck]

Thanks for the correction Mr. Nobody.. it was a bad choice of words. I'll go bury my head in the sand.. and line up for multiple flamings.

Corporate mass hysteria or whatever you may call it.. very little was known about SARS except that people were dying.

[Mr Nobody]

Don't fret. Pandemics was one of my study thingies at Big School. Then I wrote a novel on one, researching them for most of a year, along with nuclear war.

And we don't flame here, just correct, and hey, I could be wrong - a person is only as right as their info.

No-one is rational during disease outbreaks. It scares the poo out of the majority of people. That is why the govt often does stupid things, to be seen to do something. So people think it is being dealt with.

The early part of the novel, in fact, revolved somewhat around the way people dealt with it at several levels. Generally, they don't.

[con's fly is open]

This is a grim thing to say, but bungling the outbreak in Toronto will save far more lives than it cost: with public sentiment in favour, the PM announced he was spending a truckload of money to build a Canadian version of Usania's CDC (Centre for Disease Control). We should have had one 30 years ago.

I could project the same thing to China, too: they built a lot of infrastructure in the wake of SARS. They couldn't deny it happened, and they knew it would happen again, so the only way to salvage face was to actually DO SOMETHING EFFECTIVE.

Doubtless, there will be more incompetence (there already has, and we all remember the examples), but their only winning strategy is to get on it and demand excellence. Best of all, they get this.

Vietnam? I suspect it's the same deal there, but who knows, really? Not I.

[con's fly is open]

A government response:

China deploys 50,000 to fight pig illness
Last Updated Fri, 29 Jul 2005 14:23:25 EDT
CBC News

Some 50,000 health workers are being deployed in China's Sichuan province as the human death toll continues to climb from a mystery epidemic involving bacteria spread among pigs.

The health workers are going to an estimated 1.4 million farming households, trying to register every pig in the region.

China's Ministry of Health said Friday that 31 people have now died of the mysterious illness.

Twenty-seven others have been hospitalized and are in critical condition. As well, there are more than 152 less severe confirmed or suspected cases.

The disease is blamed on the bacteria Streptococcus suis, which is commonly found in pig populations. It has spread through dozens of villages in Sichuan province since June.

No person-to-person transmissions have been reported.

"The epidemic is at present under control," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted the country's health minister, Gao Qiang, as saying on Thursday.

Still, the source of the outbreak has not been determined.

Symptoms include fever, bleeding under the skin, nausea, vomiting, and, in some cases, meningitis.

Medical officials are still trying to find a drug to treat the disease. For now, they are relying on heavy doses of antibiotics.


The government is warning that precautions should be taken, including a ban on the selling, transportation and killing of pigs.

In addition to registering pigs, the country has also embarked on a massive public awareness campaign.

In one city, Ziyang, officials have issued more than two million posters telling farmers not to slaughter or eat sick pigs, the China Daily News reported.

As well, all pork exports from the southwestern province of Sichuan have been suspended.

The outbreak has raised fears that China may be dealing with a disease that could cause as much havoc as SARS, the respiratory ailment that swept through parts of the country in 2003.

It also comes as the country is trying to deal with an outbreak of bird flu in its northwest.

[Canuck]

The gov't is sending vaccines for the bacteria Streptococcus suis as of tonight.. as reported by CRI news. 315,000 units in the first shipment.

[Raoul Duke]

Still, I'll bet a stint as Pig Registrar looks damn fine on a resume...

[con's fly is open]

And oh, the groupies they must have!

[acjade]

At dinner this evening the kid's mother told me not to eat any sausages. What other products are manufactured from pork?

[con's fly is open]

Apart from seafood, pork seems to be the most popular meat around these parts. Me, I've decideed to ignore the entire thing in my day-to-day life.

I keep drinking, but I don't get drunk.

[Mr Nobody]

Yeah, ignore it, and cook the flesh, and it will ignore you. Bacteria die easily at high temp

[Raoul Duke]

Better yet, let someone else cook the flesh for you.
Otherwise you should be safe enough as long as you don't fondle any live pigs.

Except, of course, for the ones who own your school.

[Mr Nobody]

Yeah, handling those slimy innards - errrggh