Military

DATE=3/15/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ASIA MYSTERY ILLNESS (L-O)

NUMBER=2-300721

BYLINE=KATHERINE MARIA

DATELINE=HONG KONG

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A Hong Kong health official has implicitly criticized the World Health Organization for issuing a world-wide alert about a mysterious illness. More than forty Hong Kong residents are showing possible symptoms of the disease, which also appears to have struck in Vietnam and China. V-O-A's Katherine Maria reports.

TEXT: /// OPT /// The number of people in Hong Kong suffering from a mysterious flu-like illness has risen to at least 47. And eight more of those were diagnosed with atypical pneumonia on Saturday, bringing the number of seriously ill people to 37. /// END OPT ///

The sickness in Hong Kong is unusual in that it has primarily struck hospital workers, but not persons with compromised immune systems, or the elderly.

A similar outbreak of atypical pneumonia has hit at least 20 health care workers in Hanoi. Last month, five people in China's Guangdong Province died in a mysterious pneumonia outbreak that affected more than 300-people and caused wide-spread panic.

The disease appears to begin with flu-like symptoms, and in some cases progresses to what is known as atypical pneumonia. Earlier in the week, the World Health Organization issued a rare global alert to warn governments about the three separate outbreaks, but the W-H-O has not confirmed whether the same agent is causing the separate outbreaks, or even what the agent is.

Dr. Yeoh Eng-Kiong, Hong Kong's Secretary of Health, said Saturday that the W-H-O should confirm a link among the cases and define the illness better before raising international concern.

/// YEOH ACT ///

In a situation like this I think the greatest fear is the unknown. If the W-H-O can come forth with case definitions and come forth to do some coordinating work to see whether there is an actual pattern or similarities in this region. Because they have already alerted the community, if they do not do more work to see whether there is a pattern or a trend or a similarity then it really doesn't do justice.

/// END ACT ///

Dr. Yeoh says a number of neighboring governments including Singapore and Thailand have already warned their citizens to avoid travel to Hong Kong. Australia says it is monitoring the disease outbreaks, and may also warn its citizens against traveling to the affected regions. Doctors and nurses with atypical flu-like symptoms in Singapore and Taiwan are being closely monitored.

Dr. Yeoh says the Hong Kong outbreak is almost entirely confined to health workers in five hospitals and one clinic, and the disease is not threatening the general public. He insists Hong Kong is still a safe place to visit.

But many Hong Kong residents are worried A Canadian who had recently visited Hong Kong and one of her family members both died of pneumonia on Saturday. An American who traveled from Hanoi to Hong Kong died Thursday. Some people speculate that he was the one who passed the illness to hospital workers while he was in Hanoi.

W-H-O scientists say the current outbreaks are probably not related to the avian flue virus, which killed six-people in Hong Kong in the late 1990s. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/KM/BK/RAE