SCMP Jan 6 - uangdong authorities yesterday ordered the slaughter of 10,000 civet cats in the province, as Hong Kong and the mainland moved to prevent a possible spread of Sars after a 32-year-old man was confirmed as having the deadly disease.
The case, confirmed by the World Health Organisation after nearly two weeks of tests, was the first time anyone has been infected outside a laboratory since the global Sars outbreak was declared over in July. The outbreak infected 8,098 people in 29 countries and claimed 774 lives.
The moves came as Philippine health authorities announced that a 42-year-old Filipina who worked as a domestic helper in Hong Kong was a suspected Sars case.
In Guangdong, 10,000 civets will be killed by Saturday. Authorities closed all wild animal markets from yesterday and imposed an immediate ban on the farming, transport, sale, slaughter and consumption of all masked palm civet cats, badgers and raccoon dogs.
Deputy health chief Feng Liuxiang said the decision was taken on the advice of Guangdong and Hong Kong experts who found similarities in the genetic sequences of the virus in the Sars patient and civets.
After an emergency meeting last night, the Guangdong government announced it would carry out a comprehensive hygiene campaign in the runup to the Lunar New Year.
Governor Huang Huahua said the health situation of all wild animal workers would be monitored.
The patient, a Guangdong television producer, is now in a stable condition. None of the 81 people he had close contact with has shown any symptoms of Sars.
At a press briefing in Beijing last night, WHO officials ruled out the possibility the latest case was a reactivation of a previous case, saying tests confirmed it was a new case and the patient had only contracted the disease recently.
The WHO said the new case "does not indicate there is an immediate public-health threat in southern China. It is safe to travel to all areas of China".
Julie Hall, head of the WHO's Sars team in Beijing, said the patient had no history of contact with wild animals or laboratories, nor had he travelled recently. The source of infection remains unknown. She said there was no evidence that the virus had mutated.
The possibility the patient contracted the disease when catching rats in his apartments had also been ruled out as 30 rats were trapped and tested and none reacted positively to tests, Ms Hall said.
WHO officials also urged caution in Guangdong's plan to slaughter civet cats, describing the decision as radical because the animals had not been confirmed as the spreaders of the Sars virus. The the cull could eliminate evidence of the origins of the disease.
In Hong Kong, the government announced a raft of Sars control measures, including enhanced temperature checks on travellers from Guangdong and on-line reporting of all patients with pneumonia who had travelled to the province.
Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong told an urgent press briefing: "We have learned from the previous outbreak to expect the unexpected, to try to anticipate the unknown."
He believed the measures would be able to detect cases at the earliest possible time.
Sars originated in Guangdong in November 2001, before arriving in Hong Kong in February last year. It spread globally after a sick Guangdong professor infected guests at the Metropole Hotel in Kowloon. One of the hotel visitors in turn sparked the local outbreak at the Prince of Wales Hospital.
Dr Yeoh said the suspected Sars case in the Philippines was being followed up through the WHO and the Philippine authorities.
Stopping the spread
Temperature screening for travellers from Guangdong stepped up
Patients who contract pneumonia - typical or atypical - within 10 days of travelling to Guangdong must report to Department of Health
All patients at accident and emergency wards, specialist clinics and general outpatient clinics must undergo temperature checks
From today, all hospital staff and visitors must wear masks and the public will be advised to step up hygiene measures