Second SARS suspect in China
A waitress in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong has been declared a suspected SARS case, the second to emerge in China since an epidemic that swept the world ended last year.
The Health Ministry said on Thursday the waitress, 20, who local media reported had been in hospital for more than a week, was suspected of having Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
“Forty-eight people who had had close contact with her have been isolated, and 52 others who had normal contacts have been observed,” said the provincial flagship Guangzhou Daily newspaper.
In the first case, since confirmed, a local television producer surnamed Luo, 32, has recovered and was released from hospital in Guangzhou on Thursday, reported the official Xinhua news agency.
And in Hong Kong, three television reporters have been
admitted to a hospital after showing SARS-like symptoms
following a visit to the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, said a hospital spokeswoman on Wednesday.
China has given a Saturday deadline for the slaughter of about 10,000 civet cats, the prime suspect in the spread of the disease, and has launched a rat and cockroach extermination campaign.
Chinese health authorities said a gene sample from Luo resembled that of a virus found in civets, a local delicacy.
SARS, a flu-like illness, infected about 8,000 people around the world last year, about two-thirds of them in China, and savaged airline and tourism industries around Asia.