After more than two weeks of intricate tests, the Chinese Health Ministry announced yesterday that a sick man in southern China does have the SARS virus, triggering fears that a second season of the illness might be at hand.
The confirmation came hours after the government took a striking step, ordering the slaughter of 10,000 civet cats and related species in the wildlife markets of Guangdong province. The civet is considered a vector for SARS' suspected jump from animals to humans.
The Health Ministry said the illness contracted by a 32-year-old television producer "has been confirmed as a diagnosed case" of SARS. The World Health Organization in Beijing also said an announcement was forthcoming.
"Based on the combined tests of the Ministry of Health and Guangdong provincial health experts, the suspected SARS case has been confirmed," the ministry said on its Web site. "This is the first case of SARS since it was effectively controlled last year."
The patient's condition was reported stable yesterday afternoon, the government said, and those who came into contact with him have shown no symptoms of SARS.
Still, it warned the Chinese public: "Be vigilant."
SARS, which first broke out in Guangdong in November 2002, infected more than 8,000 people and killed 774 worldwide -- mostly in Asia -- before it was brought under control in June.
The confirmation represents the first known case of SARS contracted in China since July -- and the first this season to come from the general population. Two other cases -- in Singapore and Taiwan -- were linked to researchers who apparently had been exposed in laboratories.
All of Guangdong's wildlife markets were ordered to close under the order issued yesterday, Feng Liuxiang, deputy director of the province's health department, said at on national television. The weasel-like mammals are considered a delicacy in Guangdong and are served in wild game restaurants.
The announcement came after researchers at Hong Kong University found similarities between a virus found in the cats and in the SARS patient, suggesting the disease might have recently jumped from animals.
There were believed to be about 10,000 civets on sale in Guangdong wildlife markets. It wasn't clear when the killings might begin or how they would be carried out.
Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, said species related to civet cats will also be killed, including raccoon dogs, Chinese ferret badgers, hog badgers and Eurasian badgers. It wasn't immediately clear how many animals in total might be slaughtered.
The disease killed 349 people in China last year. The government banned trade in civets and 53 other wild animals in April amid sweeping efforts to stop the spread of the virus. That prohibition was lifted in August despite warnings by scientists that the animals might still be a health threat.
In Taipei Center for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Su Yi-jen (
yesterday Taiwan has constantly kept abreast of epidemic situations in China since last year after outbreaks of SARS occurred in China.
CDC said that Taiwan's health authorities have been continuously monitoring the SARS-related situation in China based on the knowledge that there was a problem with the disease there in the past.
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