Private lab had positive PCR on stools, but failed to confirm with nasal swabs. Again the test is blamed and positive considered unreliable as negative data again trumps positive.
>===== Original Message From "Henry L Niman, PhD" <henry_niman@hms.harvard.edu> =====
story.news.yahoo.com
False Alarms as Edgy HK Fears Return of SARS Virus
2 hours, 32 minutes ago Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Tan Ee Lyn
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong is on edge as the Chinese winter approaches,
bringing with it fears of a return of the SARS (news - web sites) virus which
killed hundreds in the territory and in neighboring Guangdong Province just a
few months ago.
Two SARS scares in Hong Kong this week put its healthcare system back in the
firing line. Some experts fear it may be unable to withstand a second massive
onslaught of the flu-like disease.
Medical experts say that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed
almost 300 people in Hong Kong and about 350 on the mainland, could re-emerge
during the winter months but that emergency contingency plans are far from
ready in the territory.
"We are not worried about a few cases. But if there are many infections within
a short time, we wonder if the system and the contingency plan can handle
that," said Wong Tak-cheung, president of the Public Doctors' Association in
Hong Kong.
"These plans are still being drafted, they are really not ready for a massive
outbreak," Wong told Reuters.
The Hong Kong authorities are on red alert to prevent a repeat of this year's
mass outbreak of SARS, which first surfaced in Guangdong and went on to kill
more than 800 people globally.
Panic spread across the city this week when a 34-year-old woman and seven
inmates at a mental hospital were isolated in separate incidents for fever and
breathing problems -- some of the most classic symptoms of SARS.
Though false alarms, they highlighted sharp deficiencies in how medical staff
handled suspect SARS cases and the lack of any information sharing between
private and public health agencies.
In the woman's case, a private laboratory found the virus in the woman's
stools. But two later tests at government labs using samples from the woman's
nasal-pharyngeal passage -- which experts regard as a more reliable guide --
turned up negative. |
