March 30, 2005
China denies Ebola report
BEIJING (AP) — China is denying reports on the Internet that at least four people had died of the deadly Ebola virus in the country’s south.
The Health Ministry said it issued an “urgent notice” to officials in Shenzhen, a city that borders Hong Kong, after the reports said deaths had occurred there since January.
Investigators concluded the reports were “sheer fabrication,” the ministry said on its website. In addition, it said, “there have not been any reports of similar cases anywhere else in the country.”
The statement, posted Tuesday, didn’t give other details or specify which reports it was responding to. But it is unusual for China to respond at all to such reports, and the statement reflected its sensitivity to even rumours of public health threats after it was criticized in 2003 for its slow response to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The Chinese-language Web site boxun.com said March 25 that Shenzhen appeared to have “the first Ebola deaths in China.”
“There are a lot of dead people and authorities are blocking information,” the site said.
It said customs officials in January boarded a ship of unknown origin and fought with people on board. It said one official “died mysteriously” at the end of February and his mistress began vomiting and had abdominal pains and died two weeks later, apparently with some internal bleeding — all symptoms of the disease.
The site said two doctors who were exposed to her blood also developed similar symptoms and died.
The Health Ministry said Shenzhen’s customs and quarantine departments have not found any Ebola cases.
Officials in Guangdong province, where Shenzhen is located, refused on Wednesday to answer questions about the reports.
Guangdong, which has long been a breeding ground for flus and other viruses, was the site of the first recorded SARS cases. The disease killed 349 people in China and sickened thousands worldwide before subsiding in July 2003.
China was heavily criticized for its initial reticence over releasing information and data about its outbreak.
Nearly all Ebola cases are reported in Africa, where the virus was first identified in 1976 in Sudan and Congo. The World Health Organization says it has documented more than 1,200 deaths in about 1,850 cases since then.
Ebola, which is spread by direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or bodily fluids of infected persons, causes death in 50 percent to 90 percent of cases. Symptoms include fever, muscle pain, diarrhea and in some cases, internal and external bleeding.
Roy Wadia, a Beijing spokesman for the WHO, said the agency contacted the Chinese government after hearing about the Internet reports. Wadia said Chinese health officials “responded quickly“ that they had found the stories to be untrue.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/03/30/pf-976908.html
China denies Ebola report
BEIJING (AP) — China is denying reports on the Internet that at least four people had died of the deadly Ebola virus in the country’s south.
The Health Ministry said it issued an “urgent notice” to officials in Shenzhen, a city that borders Hong Kong, after the reports said deaths had occurred there since January.
Investigators concluded the reports were “sheer fabrication,” the ministry said on its website. In addition, it said, “there have not been any reports of similar cases anywhere else in the country.”
The statement, posted Tuesday, didn’t give other details or specify which reports it was responding to. But it is unusual for China to respond at all to such reports, and the statement reflected its sensitivity to even rumours of public health threats after it was criticized in 2003 for its slow response to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome.
The Chinese-language Web site boxun.com said March 25 that Shenzhen appeared to have “the first Ebola deaths in China.”
“There are a lot of dead people and authorities are blocking information,” the site said.
It said customs officials in January boarded a ship of unknown origin and fought with people on board. It said one official “died mysteriously” at the end of February and his mistress began vomiting and had abdominal pains and died two weeks later, apparently with some internal bleeding — all symptoms of the disease.
The site said two doctors who were exposed to her blood also developed similar symptoms and died.
The Health Ministry said Shenzhen’s customs and quarantine departments have not found any Ebola cases.
Officials in Guangdong province, where Shenzhen is located, refused on Wednesday to answer questions about the reports.
Guangdong, which has long been a breeding ground for flus and other viruses, was the site of the first recorded SARS cases. The disease killed 349 people in China and sickened thousands worldwide before subsiding in July 2003.
China was heavily criticized for its initial reticence over releasing information and data about its outbreak.
Nearly all Ebola cases are reported in Africa, where the virus was first identified in 1976 in Sudan and Congo. The World Health Organization says it has documented more than 1,200 deaths in about 1,850 cases since then.
Ebola, which is spread by direct contact with blood, secretions, organs or bodily fluids of infected persons, causes death in 50 percent to 90 percent of cases. Symptoms include fever, muscle pain, diarrhea and in some cases, internal and external bleeding.
Roy Wadia, a Beijing spokesman for the WHO, said the agency contacted the Chinese government after hearing about the Internet reports. Wadia said Chinese health officials “responded quickly“ that they had found the stories to be untrue.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/03/30/pf-976908.html
