Hong Kong-Testing stepped up as more hit by SARS-like virus

Mary Ann Benitez
Monday, November 26, 2012
Residents and tourists with unexplained pneumonia, not only those from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, will be tested for a new SARS-like virus.
Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man called yesterday for enhanced vigilance after four more cases of "severe acute respiratory infection" in Saudi Arabia and Qatar were confirmed by the World Health Organization.
Patients with no history of travel to the two Middle Eastern countries but who develop symptoms of the novel coronavirus may need to be tested, Ko said.
While there is no cause to raise the alert level for SARI, he said new cases highlight the need to enhance surveillance measures in hospitals and border control points.
The WHO was notified on Friday of four additional SARI cases - three from Saudi Arabia and one in Qatar - bringing total confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus to six, with two deaths, in the past two months.
Two of the latest cases in Saudi Arabia are from the same family living in the same household. One died and the other recovered.
The health agency urged all member states to continue their surveillance for SARI. It is reviewing the case definition and other guidelines.
"Until more information is available, it is prudent to consider that the virus is likely to be more widely distributed than just the two countries that have identified cases," it said.
The WHO expressed concern because a novel coronavirus spawned the global outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, with it spreading from Hong Kong.
Of the nearly 900 who died, 299 came from Hong Kong. About 8,500 people worldwide were infected.
Yuen Kwok-yung, University of Hong Kong microbiology professor, said the genetic makeup of SARI is similar to SARS and both come from bats.
Yuen said the chance of person-to- person transmission is not very high for the new infection because none of the health workers who cared for patients has been infected.
The International Society for Infectious Diseases said increased surveillance of patients even without travel history to Saudi Arabia or Qatar is prudent advice.
"The presence of cases in the same family can either be a sign of human-to- human transmission or may be related to exposure of the family members to a common source such as farm animals or bat excreta or other bat bodily fluids," the society said. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=128660&sid=38319665&con_type=1&d_str=20121126&fc=10