INTERNATIONAL. A handful of suspected cases of the deadly flu-like illness have surfaced in new spots around the globe but medical experts said there “should not be panic” because the spread isn’t as aggressive as most forms of influenza. There were no new fatalities during Monday and Tuesday of this week since the nine first reported when the World Health Organization (WHO) issued its unusual global alert over the weekend.
Meanwhile doctors in Germany, Singapore and other affected countries are analysing blood tests on victims that are yielding possible clues to the cause of the illness, severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS.
Most of the more than 160 cases that have appeared in the past three weeks are health workers in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore. China said 300 people had what appeared to be the same illness in an outbreak that began in November in Guangdong province.
However, the WHO communicable diseases chief David Heymann, said the illness doesn’t seem to spread as quickly a flu. “It isn’t contagious at the level of many other infectious diseases,” he told news agencies. “A normal influenza would be very contagious to people sitting in the same room.”
So far, experts say there is no evidence the infection spreads by casual contact, such as sitting next to somebody in an airplane. That’s encouraging, WHO officials said, adding that some of the patients in the latest outbreak seem to be recovering.
