'The China Syndrome' 

By Jose Reyes                                                                     5/25/2003

I decided to post this map for those not familiar with the geography of the Far East:

May19:  Chinese authorities are threatening 10 year jail sentences and even, outright execution to anyone purposely spreading the SARS virus. These drastic but also necessary measures have been enforced by the Chinese authorities.  The main reason for the steps taken were brought on by a SARS' infected doctor, Dr. Li Song. He was infected while attending a training program in Bameng Hospital in Beijing. He knowingly spread the SARS virus to family members and eventually to a total of 102 innocent people which included 23 medical staff members. He was placed in maximum quarantine quarters along with his wife. He managed to escape and later was apprehended by Chinese police near the hospital.

Taiwan: The island of Taiwan has found itself between "A Rock and a Hard Place". The SARS virus is rapidly spreading and Taiwan is pleading urgently for help from the WHO (World Health Organization). Taiwan has been seeking for WHO entry or just for observer status even before SARS, but the capital city of China, Beijing, refuses to let it happen. The Chinese government is using SARS as a political weapon to punish Taiwan for historical purposes. This barricade against Taiwan is working and the WHO is not cooperating by refusing to treat the infected Taiwanese. Taiwan's health minister (Twu Shing-jer) has resigned and SARS is "Out of Control" placing the infected numbers in 3RD place behind Mainland China (5285) and the Hong Kong province (1724). As of May 24 Taiwan is at  538 infected. Health officials are giving Taiwan about (5 Weeks) for SARS to become an epidemic. The numbers for  new daily cases in China and Hong Kong have dropped a considerable amount to almost zero and Taiwan's new cases are doubling every day. More than 140 Hospital staff members have quit and many doctors and nurses have become infected in about 6 hospitals. At least 6 doctors and nurses have died of SARS.

New Developments: There has been an interesting discovery by a research team from the University of Hong Kong. They  have examined 25 animals belonging to  8 different species. These animals belong to (Live) animal markets in southern china that supply restaurants in Gangdang province, where SARS' 1st case is believed to have originated.  30 percent of the earlier cases were handlers of these rare animals. These animals are consumed and disturbingly are considered a delicacy in China. Two Healthy species of animals, the "Civet Cat"  (Picture on Left) which actually belongs to the Mongoose family and the "Raccoon Dog" (Picture on Right) from the Dog family have tested positive to a SARS-Like virus. The Raccoon Dog had the virus in its feces. Antibodies (Click for Definition) against the SARS Virus were found in both animals.

Comments:

Absurd! Del Carajo! Now I understand where the animal activists are coming from. I hope these SARS-infested animals are the culprits and a Vaccine can be produced to destroy this human disaster. Let's hope these sick individuals who are consuming these so-called delicacies, change their dietary pattern and direct them more towards the basic "Pork Fried Rice". Anyway, a vaccine must be produced very soon because meteorologists are predicting an early winter for the Northern Hemisphere. This will create staggering numbers of SARS infections around the world. 

Important Numerical Information (Worldwide): 

Notes:

Cumulative number of cases includes number of deaths.

As SARS is a diagnosis of exclusion, the status of a reported case may change over time. This means that previously reported cases may be discarded after further investigation and follow-up.

1. The start of the period of surveillance has been changed to 1 November 2002 to capture cases of atypical pneumonia in China that are now recognized as being cases of SARS.

2. A decrease in the number of cumulative cases and discrepancies in the difference between cumulative number of cases of the last and the current WHO update are attributed to the discarding of cases.

3. Includes cases who are "discharged" or "recovered" as reported by the national public health authorities.

4. One death attributed to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China occurred in a case medically transferred from Viet Nam.

Comments: webmaster@cubanology.com

To be Continued........