WHO: Beijing could have 5X the number of officially reported cases....
By Jonathan Ansfield
BEIJING, April 16 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation
said China, epicentre of a flu-like virus that has killed about
160 people worldwide, had failed to report all its cases and the
capital, Beijing, could have five times the official number.
The virus, which is new to science and has no known cure, has
been carried by air travellers to around 22 countries in the past
six weeks, infecting over 3,400 people.
Hong Kong, the second most affected area after mainland
China, reported five more deaths from the virus on Wednesday.
"Indeed there have been cases of SARS -- there is no question
about that -- that have also not been reported officially,"
German WHO virologist Wolfgang Preiser said after a visit to a
military hospital in Beijing.
"The military seems to have its own reporting system which
does not link in presently with the municipal one," he told a
news conference on Wednesday.
WHO officials called for full disclosure from the country
where Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) first appeared in
November and which has been criticised widely for not sharing
information with the rest of the world soon enough.
Officials were asked how many cases Beijing really had. "I
would guess the range would be between 100 and 200," WHO official
Alan Schnur replied. Only thirty-seven cases have been officially
reported in Beijing.
A team of WHO virologists and epidemiologists were allowed to
visit two military hospitals in Beijing -- days after asking for
permission -- as the government responded to pressure.
SARS has killed at least 65 people and infected 1,445 in
mainland China -- nearly half of the world's cases -- since it
first surfaced in the southern province of Guangdong.
SINGAPORE TEST
In a sign some progress was being made in the fight against
the illness, Singapore said it hopes to have a diagnostic test
ready in a week following 12 deaths from SARS in the tiny island
nation in less than a month.
But scientists in Hong Kong said they may have detected a
more virulent form of the virus in the densely populated city
where the disease has killed 61 people and infected 1,268.
Key data to help explain SARS may emerge from China in three
to four weeks, due to the new openness of officials, said Dr
David Heymann, head of the WHO's contagious diseases unit.
"What's the future of this disease?" he said in New York. "We
won't know until we see what's going on in China. Everything
hinges on what we find out in China."
Scientists have been working feverishly on diagnostic tests
for SARS, after mapping the genetic sequence of the virus.
The state-run Genome Institute of Singapore said its new test
would take three hours and may be sensitive enough to detect the
virus in its early stages before a person develops SARS symptoms
such as high fever and a dry cough.
"We need to find the kit, get it tested, validated and then
applied for general use. We will put out the kits on Friday,"
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said in a news conference.
To help detect SARS cases, Wong said Singapore started to use
a thermal imaging system at its Changi airport on Friday for
passengers arriving on flights from China and Hong Kong.
A passenger stands in front of the system, developed by
Singapore Technologies, to have his temperature checked, the
minister said.
On Monday, a German company, Hamburg-based Artus GmbH, said
it was distributing a quick "real-time" test that can detect the
virus by looking for its genetic signature.
(Additional reporting by Jason Szep in Singapore, Tan Ee Lyn in
Hong Kong, Ellen Wulfhorst in New York and Maggie Fox in
Washington) |
