latest on SARS

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Theory Emerges On Mystery Illness
March 19, 2003
Some victims of a fast-moving disease spreading from Asia appear to be
infected with a family of virus similar to those that cause mumps, measles
and some animal diseases, German researchers say.

The announcement by scientists at the Institute for Medical Virology at
Frankfurt University came as the disease killed another victim on Wednesday,
a French doctor at a hospital in Vietnam.

The World Health Organization has listed nine deaths from severe acute
respiratory syndrome, or SARS, but that number could be as high as 11 if the
French doctor and a Chinese professor who died early this month in Hong Kong
were included in the tally.

The specialists at Frankfurt University said samples from two people there
resemble a paramyxovirus, the family of microbes that causes measles, mumps
and canine distemper. There is no treatment for that virus group.

The finding is the first potential clue to emerge in the three weeks since
the illness came to the attention of health experts.

The disease, first described as a new form of pneumonia, has sickened 219
people worldwide in the past few weeks. Five of the deaths were in China and
occurred during an outbreak months ago.

Most of the illnesses have been health workers in Singapore, Hong Kong and
Vietnam. A few probable cases have turned up in England, Taiwan and
Slovenia. Unconfirmed cases were being investigated in many other places,
including the United States.

The World Health Organization, which is coordinating the disease
investigation, is taking the paramyxovirus theory seriously, but officials
say it's too early to draw conclusions.

"It's in two specimens and it's not been confirmed anywhere else," said Dr.
David Heymann, WHO's communicable diseases chief. "It's really premature to
put out something like this because it will automatically make everybody
who's dealing with patients try to alter their therapies, and it may be
altering them in the wrong way if this is not confirmed."

Dr. Wolfgang Preiser, a consultant virologist at Frankfurt University
Hospital, also urged caution over his group's findings, which are based on
results from an electron microscope. Other more rigorous work, such as
genetic testing, has not been done.

"It could possibly, potentially be the agent responsible for SARS, but we
don't know at this stage," Preiser said. "The size fits a paramyxovirus. The
structure, as far as we can make out, fits."

Samples were being sent Wednesday to a specialist lab in Rotterdam,
Netherlands, which has previously identified new paramyxoviruses.

Researchers in Hong Kong said they also had identified a member of the
paramyxoviridae family in patient samples by using an electron microscope.
Heymann said other labs around the world are now looking to see if they can
find the same thing in their samples.

The paramyxovirus family includes hundreds of different viruses of varying
degrees of danger to people. Besides measles and mumps, there is respiratory
syncytial virus - a common cause of croup in children - and parainfluenza
viruses, which are not influenza but cause flu-like symptoms.

Investigators say it could take weeks to determine the cause of the
outbreak. So far, the infection doesn't seem to spread by casual contact.

The incubation period for SARS appears to be three to seven days. It often
begins with a fever of over 100 degrees and other flu-like symptoms, such as
headache and sore throat. Victims typically develop coughs, pneumonia,
shortness of breath and other breathing difficulties. Death results from
respiratory failure.

The doctor who died Wednesday had treated an American businessman for the
illness at the Hanoi French Hospital in Vietnam, hospital director Yves
Nicolai said. The businessman later died after being transferred to Hong
Kong. 

A nurse at the same hospital, who also treated the American, died on
Saturday. 

Thirty-three workers at the Hanoi French Hospital remain ill, along with at
least 20 people who have come in contact with them. Three cases were
confirmed Wednesday in Japan, but none of the cases was serious and two of
the sick had already recovered.

News of the latest death prompted a run on vitamins and surgical masks at
Vietnamese pharmacies. Thai Airways said it would provide free surgical
masks to passengers, and Vietnam's airline said it was using anti-bacterial
sprays on its planes.

Many airlines are turning away passengers with flu-like symptoms.


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