Fears over China viral pneumonia outbreak as number of cases rise
The number of cases of a new type of viral pneumonia linked to a food market in central China has risen to 44, sparking fears over the unidentified cause of the outbreak.
It has raised widespread concern among health authorities, after the 2002-3 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in China killed several hundred people.
Of those cases diagnosed in Wuhan since December, 11 were listed as critical. All patients were being treated in isolation and 121 people who had been in close contact with them were under observation.
The most common symptom of the disease is fever, with shortness of breath and lung infections appearing in a “small number” of cases, according to the health commission.
The commission said that there have been no clear indications of human-to-human transmission of the disease.
While the cause of the disease remains unknown, the commission has ruled out known respiratory diseases including avian influenza, which has appeared occasionally in China among people working with poultry.
Most of the cases have been traced to the South China Seafood City food market in the suburbs of sprawling Wuhan, where wild animals that carry viruses dangerous to humans are sold.
The commission reported that the market had been disinfected and investigations into links to the outbreak were under way.
In Hong Kong, the hospital authority said two female patients who recently travelled to Wuhan had been admitted to hospital and were being treated in isolation for fever and respiratory infections or pneumonia symptoms.
The two, aged 12 and 41, were in a stable condition.
Officials said it was not clear if there was a direct connection to those patients in Wuhan.
A total of five patients have been hospitalised in Hong Kong since December with similar symptoms, two of whom have been discharged.
Authorities have sought to quash fears that the outbreak marks a re-emergence of Sars, whichemergedfromsouthern China and killed more than 700 people in mainland China, Hong Kong and elsewhere.
Sars was brought under control through quarantines and other extreme measures, but not before causing a virtual shutdown to travel in China and the region and taking a severe toll on the economy.
According to the World Health Organisation, the Sars coronavirus is thought to be an animal virus from an asyet-uncertain animal reservoir, possibly bats, that spread to other animals and first infected humans in Guangdong, near Hong Kong, in late 2002.