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Asian SARS outbreak arrives in the United States
Alexis Dyer
World/National Co-Editor
FILE PHOTO
An American Airlines' flight from Tokyo was grounded for several hours in San Jose, California while a possible outbreak of SARS was investigated.
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On April 1 an American Airlines flight from Tokyo was quarantined on the runway in San Jose, California after four people on the plane complained of symptoms consistent with those of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
SARS, a deadly new respiratory disease that originated in Asia has recently been spreading to other continents as well, with cases being reported in Europe and North America.
Countries in Asia remain the most heavily affected, however. Guangdong, a small province in southern China where the disease most likely originated, has reported nine deaths so far this year.
This brings the death toll in mainland China to at least 43, and raises the worldwide death toll to at least 75, with 16 in Hong Kong, six in Canada, four each in Singapore and Vietnam, and two in Thailand.
These statistics are just being revealed now, as the World Health Organization recently gained tentative permission to come into China and other areas of Asia to investigate the disease.
“We’ve thus far had a verbal invitation to go, said WHO spokesman Chris Powell, according to The Associated Press. “The team is delighted that they’re going to be able to go to Guangdong. It’ll give them a tremendous opportunity to look at what appears to be the source of the outbreak firsthand.”
The permission came in response to international criticism of China’s reaction to SARS, including withholding information about the seriousness of the disease. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson also pledged to put more pressure on China to be more open about the status of the disease. “It’s important to see if we can work in more of a collaborative fashion with China,” said Thompson, according to The Associated Press, “I think we’re going to put on more pressure."
The toll that the disease has taken cannot just be determined by the body count. Hong Kong especially has seen a serious dip in public confidence as a result of the disease. This week crowds flooded into supermarkets to buy rice and other staples in response to
an internet hoax that the entire city would be held under quarantine. The Hong Kong stock market fell, and the Hong Kong dollar has come under pressure in currency markets.
These problems in Hong Kong have a ripple effect on all of Asia because of its integral place in the Asian economy. Hong Kong's airport is the busiest in Asis, and its port handles more freight containers each year than any other in the world. Both the flight and freight industries are coming under assault as the United States and other countries have begun discouraging citizens from taking non- essential trips to the region.
The WHO has also issued an advisory specifically against traveling to Hong Kong and Guangdong.
Another setback is that anyone who does become infected with SARS is virtually trapped where they are, as commercial air carriers and even air ambulance services are refusing to transport victims.
Discouragemnt from the WHO and lack of care for SARS' victims has decreased tourism, another factor in the dropping Hong Kong economy.
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