>>Shenzhen chef's taste for exotic animals may be to blame
Staff reporter
Huang Xingchu, a chef in Heyuan County and well known for his expert preparation of exotic animals, is believed to be one of three Sars index patients in Guangdong who triggered the global outbreak of the killer disease. World Health Organisation (WHO) officials, who recently toured Guangdong, believe he could have got the disease from the animals he handled.
However, 35-year-old Huang is not only alive and kicking, but he is back at his job as a chef for two big restaurants in Shenzhen, his father told Sing Tao Daily, sister paper of The Standard, when a reporter visited his hometown.
Huang's uncle was more forthright. ``Once he left the hospital, he picked up his life where he left off,'' he said.
``He still doesn't realise the danger. He continues to be a chef for exotic animals in Shenzhen. It seems that those who contracted the disease while trying to save him had sacrificed themselves for nothing.''
The other two index patients came from Zhongshan and Shunde and were also in the same profession as Huang.
Huang was the one who infected Professor Liu Jianlun when he was admitted to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hospital in Guangzhou for treatment in January.
Liu subsequently brought the disease to Hong Kong on February 21 and sparked the global outbreak when he infected some foreign visitors and a Hong Kong person at the Metropole Hotel, Mong Kok, where he stayed.
After assessing the situation in Guangdong, WHO experts believe that Huang's infection was linked to his contact with exotic animals.
They found that of the 900 Sars patients in Guangdong, about 5per cent had come into contact with wild animals, an exceptional high proportion.
Huang, who is married and has two children, came down with the disease in late November.
When his situation worsened, he was admitted to Heyuan Municipal People's Hospital from December 5-10 but was transferred to the hospital in Guangzhou when it became apparent he was suffering from an unknown disease.
A number of doctors and nurses who had came into contact with him also fell victim to the disease. In addition, some of Huang's relatives and the ambulance driver who took him to the hospital were also found to have caught the virus - taking the then total number of infections to eight.
His uncle said:
``He has handled a lot of exotic animals such as pangolins, civet cats and owls. He knows where to find sufficient supplies of these wild animals, even the hard-to-get tiger meat. He has brought in a lot of business for the restaurants. His boss has high regard for him.''
Zhong Nanshan, 66, a leading Chinese specialist in respiratory diseases who is heading an expert task force to fight Sars in Guangdong province, said he was puzzled when Huang first entered the hospital for treatment.
Although he had extreme difficulty in breathing, Huang did not have a high temperature, as is typical with pneumonia.
It was also realised that his lungs were hardening, leading to even more difficulty in breathing.
``His lungs were as hard as plastic, which is unseen in regular pneumonia or in other respiratory diseases,'' Zhong recalled.
The usual treatment with antibiotics had no effect and it was only after the patient was given intravenous injections of corticosteroid (steroid hormone produced by the cortex of the adrenal glands) that his condition began to improve.
Huang survived the disease, but in an unexpected turn of events, thousands of people have been infected worldwide with the death toll exceeding 500.
9 May 2003 / 11:32 PM <<
thestandard.com.hk |
