INDICATING THAT the Chinese leadership is now taking seriously the need for transparency in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) reporting, the health minister and Beijing mayor, both of whom played down the seriousness of SARS, were removed from their Communist Party posts.
China also reduced its traditional week-long May Day holiday to a single day, a period when hundreds of thousands of people generally travel throughout the country. "The purpose of such an act is to prevent the massive movement of people and the possible spread of the disease," said Gao Qiang, an executive vice health minister.
A six-member WHO team also arrived Monday to investigate SARS in Shanghai. Shanghai has officially confirmed two probable cases of SARS. No deaths have yet been reported in Shanghai.
CORONAVIRUS IDENTIFIED
The virus causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has been described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a new pathogen, a member of the coronavirus family never before seen in humans.
Close international collaboration of 13 laboratories from 10 countries around the world, facilitated the quick identification of the virus.
The successful identification of the coronavirus means that scientists can now confidently turn to other SARS challenges. For example, various laboratories continue to work to unravel the genetic information of the SARS virus and compare the sequences obtained from viruses in different parts of the world.
SYMPTOMS
What are the symptoms of SARS? The U.S. Centres for Disease Control (CDC) indicates that the illness usually begins with a fever (measuring more than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or 38.0 degrees Celsisu) which might be associated with chills or other symptoms, including headache, general feeling of discomfort, and body aches.
The CDC also indicates that in some affected persons there are mild respiratory symptoms at the outset. After two to seven days, SARS patients may develop a dry, non-productive cough that might be accompanied by or progress to the point where insufficient oxygen is getting to the blood. In 10 per cent to 20 per cent of cases, patients will require mechanical ventilation.
