Category: Environment

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Beijing Quarantines 4000 Residents Exposed to SARS; Third Hospital Sealed Off

Masked medical workers in China. Photograph © 2003 by AFP.
Masked medical workers in China. Photograph © 2003 by AFP.

April 26, 2003  Beijing, China - Amid rumors that the Beijing government is about to invoke martial law (denied by officials so far), 4000 residents suspected of SARS contamination were ordered to stay home in quarantine yesterday. Beijing authorities also sealed off the city's third major hospital as the number of new SARS cases jumped from 37 to 877 in only five days. Ditan Hospital in northern Beijing was closed only a few days after the Beijing government had featured the hospital as an example of their health care organization and ability to control SARS. Earlier this week, Peking University's People's Hospital was also closed, along with Northern Jiaotong University where 400 students are quarantined.

 

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Coronavirus Expert Questions Animal Source for SARS

"If I look at the past history of the way coronaviruses behave, then I have to come to a logical conclusion that they are very species-specific and a coronavirus does not just jump from an animal to a person. If we look at the scientific evidence of what we know about coronaviruses, I could also make the argument that under the right conditions, under the right incubation conditions, that it could happen. The mechanism is there. But boy! It's like a trillion to one shot."

- Mark Jackwood, Ph.D., Avian Coronaviruses, University of Georgia, Athens

 

April 25, 2003  Athens, Georgia - Professor Mark Jackwood, Ph.D., studies bird coronaviruses in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia in Athens. One puzzle that he and his colleagues helped solve was why chickens vaccinated for a deadly avian infectious bronchitis known as DE072 (72nd virus isolate in Delaware) were still getting sick and dying. Dr. Jackwood and Professor Chang Wong Lee studied the birds' blood and discovered a different coronavirus they named "Georgia 98." 1998 was the year of the discovery. What caused the mutation from DE072 to GA98? The coronavirus's response to vaccinations.

 

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Unusual Animal Deaths in Valparaiso, Nebraska

- Animal Photos Upcoming -

Unusual cattle deaths occurred in Valparaiso, Nebraska, about 25 miles northwest of Lincoln, on April 5 and 7, 2003, and January 9, 1994.
Unusual cattle deaths occurred in Valparaiso, Nebraska, about 25 miles northwest of Lincoln, on April 5 and 7, 2003, and January 9, 1994.

April 19, 2003 Valparaiso, Nebraska - About 25 miles northwest of Lincoln, Nebraska, is the small ranching community of Valparaiso. There are some 145 residents and the Mike Benesh family has a ten acre pasture where they've raised 50 head of cattle. Until the early morning of April 5. That's when the Beneshes discovered three of their animals dead. Two were cows in their second year. The third was a 2-month-old bull calf. One of the cows was kneeling upright with all four legs under her. There were no cuts, bruises, blood or signs of struggle. But there were burn blisters in the roof of her mouth.

 

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New Coronavirus Causes SARS Symptoms in Monkeys

Optional travel not advised by World Health Organization to Hong Kong and Guangdong, China, the origins of the SARS epidemic where the virus continues to infect and kill. Photograph © 2003 by AFP.
Optional travel not advised by World Health Organization to Hong Kong and Guangdong, China, the origins of the SARS epidemic where the virus continues to infect and kill. Photograph © 2003 by AFP.

April 16, 2003 Rotterdam, Netherlands - World Health Organization (W.H.O.) scientists have infected monkeys with the same new coronavirus suspected of causing the severe acute respiratory syndrome known as SARS. The primates developed the same disease symptoms experienced by human SARS patients. This is the same coronavirus that Canadian and Centers for Disease Control geneticists were finally able to gene sequence this past weekend. This particular genetic structure has not been seen before in the coronavirus family, but was extracted from some SARS patients.

 

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Quarantined Doctor in Toronto Describes SARS Disease

Residents of Hong Kong where the SARS pneumonia virus has been spreading rapidly are wearing surgical masks as a precaution. Photograph © 2003 by AFP.
Residents of Hong Kong where the SARS pneumonia virus has been spreading rapidly are wearing surgical masks as a precaution. Photograph © 2003 by AFP.

"I think we might find that SARS causes quite a massive immune response on the part of the human host ­ that the virus is able to trick the sick human host and have it over react. ...Maybe the way this SARS disease hurts the host is almost like the host turning on itself (in an auto-immune way)."

- Donald Low, M. D., Chief of Microbiology, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada

 

April 4, 2003 Evening Update:

STATEMENT BY TOMMY G. THOMPSON Secretary of Health and Human Services Regarding Executive Order on Quarantinable Diseases

"The President today signed an executive order adding SARS to the list of quarantinable communicable diseases under the Public Health Service Act. The president signed the order after he received a detailed briefing on SARS from myself, Dr. Julie Gerberding of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

 

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