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China pursues
anti-Sars slaughter
World Health Organization doctors have searched a
restaurant in China to see if a waitress suspected of
having Sars could have caught the virus there.
The WHO said it was taking the case of the 20-year-old
seriously, but had yet to see any sign that an
epidemic of Sars was about to sweep the region.
The move came as a deadline passed for a cull of all
animals that might carry the Sars virus in Guangdong
Province.
On Monday, China confirmed its first Sars case since
last summer's outbreak.
That patient recovered and left hospital on Thursday,
but his case sparked fears of a repeat of the epidemic
that infected more than 8,000 people around the world.
Chinese authorities said a gene sample from the man
resembled that of a coronavirus found in civets, a
local delicacy.
WHO spokesman Roy Wadia told Reuters news agency that
the restaurant where the waitress worked did have
civet cat on the menu.
Doctors have urged the authorities to send samples
from the woman - who has been in stable condition
without fever for more than a week - for testing in
Beijing and in WHO facilities abroad.
'Four dangers'
Meanwhile, thousands of civet cats have been killed so
far, mostly by drowning, electrocution and
incineration. An estimated 10,000 are expected to be
culled in total.
The cull has been extended to badgers, raccoon dogs
and other animals served as local delicacies.
Officials are threatening animal traders with fines of
up to $12,000 for failing to cull civet cats - whose
meat fetches up to $22 a kilogram.
The authorities have also called for the slaughter of
rats, cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes, known as the
"four dangers".
In Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, red
banners are calling for better hygiene.
A WHO spokesman said there was anecdotal evidence that
some civets were being clubbed to death, which he said
potentially put those involved in the cull at risk.
'Plan of attack'
The WHO delegation in Guangdong has promised to leave
no stone unturned.
"What we're mostly interested in are the possibilities
of animal-to-animal and then animal-to-human exposure,
person-to-person exposure," team leader Robert Breiman
said.
"And then we're interested in the possibility that it
might be an environmental type of exposure, and we're
beginning to work out the plan of how to attack those
areas individually."
The WHO has warned there could be a number of
suspected Sars cases in the coming months because of
its resemblance to other winter illnesses.
Three Hong Kong journalists who fell ill with fevers
and coughs after visiting Guangzhou have all tested
negative for Sars, Hong Kong health officials said.
Zhong Nanshan, head of the Guangzhou Respiratory
Illness Research Institute, said there was unlikely to
be a fresh outbreak.
"To say it [the confirmed case] will trigger the huge
spread of Sars is absurd," he said.
The Sars virus spread from China last year and caused
a global health crisis, killing round 800 people and
infecting about 8,000.
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