3RD LD: 3 more deaths reported in H.K. for pneumonia outbreak

Asian Economic News, March 25, 2003

HONG KONG, March 20 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING POSSIBLE SOURCE OF INFECTION, 2ND-4TH PARAS)

The outbreak of new form of fatal and contagious pneumonia that has hit more than 200 people worldwide has claimed three more lives in Hong Kong, bringing the toll to five, health authorities said Wednesday.

The Hong Kong government on Wednesday night said seven people who were infected with the disease -- including three visitors from Singapore, two from Canada and a mainland Chinese -- frequented the same floor of a local hotel between Feb. 12 and March 2.

The seven developed pneumonia symptoms between Feb. 15-27, Director of Health Margaret Chan told reporters.

She said the mainland Chinese, who had been sick before checking into the Metropole Hotel, could be the source of infection. The Chinese visitor and one of the two Canadians died later.

According to Hong Kong health officials, the number of people infected with the often deadly disease has climbed to 145 with another five placed under observation. Most of the patients are health-care workers at public hospitals, medical students and relatives of patients.

But two of the infected patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital.

It was the first time that Hong Kong's health authorities released details of the death figures, apart from an American businessman who died early this month after having been sent to the territory for treatment from Hanoi.

The latest three deaths reported are one index patient who transmitted the disease to seven health-care workers in Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, and two patients who stayed in a ward at Prince of Wales Hospital where the outbreak first occurred.

However, the health authorities said they have yet to confirm the two patients at Prince of Wales Hospital who died of atypical pneumonia because they had been suffering from heart and liver diseases.

Globally, the number of people killed by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) could be nine, if all Hong Kong deaths and a French doctor, who treated the first case in Hanoi and reportedly died early Wednesday, are included.

Doctors in Hong Kong have identified that the killer virus is a member of the paramyxoviridae family.

John Tam, a professor in the microbiology department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told reporters Tuesday night that the finding indicates the current treatment applied to patients suffering from the illness has been the right choice.

Doctors in Hong Kong have been giving a combination of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs and steroids to patients and good recovery has been seen in some patients, the health authorities said.

Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong said Wednesday he hopes the fatality rate will decrease as doctors have found an effective treatment.

The discovery in Hong Kong, together with other findings in Germany and Taiwan, will have to be verified and confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to make sure that it is the same virus that has caused the disease worldwide, he said.

The disease has been emerging across the globe, with Vietnam reporting 57 cases and Singapore 23 cases, according to the WHO.

Canada, Germany, Thailand, Taiwan, Slovenia and Britain have also found suspected cases.

The WHO said it remains undetermined whether an epidemic of atypical pneumonia in China's Guangdong Province, which began last November, is related to the current outbreaks.

Five people died and 300 others were infected in Guangdong.

Since the first case of SARS was reported in late February, doctors and experts worldwide have been investigating its cause and origin and trying to solve the infection puzzle.

The symptoms include high fever, coughing, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, and can develop into severe pneumonia.

Both Hong Kong and WHO experts maintain that evidence shows the transmission of the disease requires direct and close contact.

Yeoh reiterated there is no sign of the disease spreading among the general public.

Health-care workers and people having close contact with infected patients remain the high-risk groups, he said.