Scientist Confirms Latest Incidence of SARS in China
A Chinese researcher said today that his country’s latest suspected SARS patient in southern China definitely has the disease, while Hong Kong researchers linked the case to wild animals.
Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, told reporters in Hong Kong that the 32-year-old TV producer who fell ill in the southern province of Guangdong has severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The World Health Organization is still listing the man as a suspected case, saying testing remained inconclusive.
Meanwhile, researchers at Hong Kong University said in a statement today that they found similarities between the coronavirus found in the Chinese patient and a virus discovered in civet cats from China, suggesting a version of the virus jumped from animals to humans.
In response, China ordered about 10,000 civet cats in Guangdong markets to be killed. Civets are considered a delicacy in the province. All of Guangdong’s wildlife markets were ordered to close, Feng Liuxiang, the province’s deputy health director, said on state television.
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