SARS - UPDATE 13 May 2003

READ HERE about the Nurses - Unsung Heroes- who put at risk their own health and life in the front-line battle against SARS

An Expert warned the virus could alter genetically if it spreads widely beyond the Asian population. Dr. Christian Drosten Bernard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, gave this warning at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. He said:

"What will happen to the virus if it jumps into a genetically different population? What will happen then? Will there be a new point-source outbreak from, say, Uganda when one Ugandan becomes infected in Asia? There may be an evolutionary pressure on the virus. This is what seems to be in many other viruses. Human populations are differently susceptible to some viruses."HONGKONG: Dr. Tse Yuen-man, is the first front-line doctor, and second frontline medical worker, to die in Hong Kong's battle against SARS. Tse died early Tuesday in the intensive care unit of Tuen Mun Hospital, where she contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome while treating patients. Tse's death brought Hong Kong's SARS toll to 219. Tse caught SARS as she scrambled without gloves on to treat a patient alongside nurse Lau Wing-kai, who died last month and was buried with honors after a funeral attended by top officials, including Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. A Tuen Mun hospital official confirmed Tse and Lau were infected while treating the same patient, but could not verify other details reported by Cheng.

TAIWAN: City officials fired a hospital chief Monday who was accused of covering up misdiagnosed cases of SARS which contributed to the disease's spread here. Hoping Hospital, a public facility that was sealed off April 24 in an effort to contain the outbreak, has been named as the source of most of Taiwan's 207 cases of the respiratory illness. Hospital president Wu Kang-wen was dismissed because he and at least one doctor have been accused of misdiagnosing SARS patients or covering up infections.

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