China culls 10,000 civet cats in bid to control SARS
Tests linked a virus found in the animals, regarded as a delicacy in China, to a patient confirmed yesterday as the country's first SARS case since an outbreak of the disease was contained in July.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) prescribed caution in the civet cull.
The Philippines also isolated a woman and her husband who might be infected, triggering fears across Asia that a second season of the highly contagious illness might be at hand.
The Chinese Health Ministry said the illness contracted by a 32-year-old television producer in the southern province of Guangdong "has been confirmed as a diagnosed case" of SARS.
WHO also confirmed the case as SARS.
His condition was reported stable yesterday, the government said, and those who came into contact with him have shown no symptoms of SARS.
Still, it warned the Chinese public: "Be vigilant".
SARS, which first broke out in Guangdong in November, 2002, infected more than 8,000 people and killed 774 worldwide mostly in Asia before it was brought under control in June.
WHO, while also urging vigilance, emphasised that one confirmed case in China does not constitute a threat to public health. "It is safe to travel to all areas of China," WHO said in a statement. During last year's outbreak, the agency issued travel advisories against visiting SARS-affected areas.
The confirmation represents the first known case of SARS contracted in China since July, and the first this season to come from the general population. Two other cases, in Singapore and Taiwan, were linked to researchers who apparently had been exposed in laboratories.
The diagnosis came hours after China ordered 10,000 civet cats in wildlife markets (and several related species) killed in its southern province of Guangdong after genetic tests suggested a link to the patient there. The civet has long been suspected as a vector for the disease's suspected jump from animals to humans.
The slaughter will be completed by Saturday, the government said yesterday. All of Guangdong's wildlife markets were ordered to close.
The weasel-like mammals are considered a delicacy in Guangdong and are served in wild game restaurants.
Researchers at Hong Kong University said they had found similarities between a virus found in the civet cats and in the suspected SARS patient, suggesting the disease might have recently jumped from animals.
"We will take resolute measures to close all the wildlife markets in Guangdong and to kill the civet cats," said Feng Liuxiang, deputy director of the province's health department.
About 10,000 civets were believed to be on sale in Guangdong wildlife markets.
Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases, said species related to civet cats also will be killed, including racoon dogs, Chinese ferret badgers, hog badgers and Eurasian badgers. It was not immediately clear how many animals in total might be slaughtered.
WHO urged the Chinese government to be cautious in its planned mass slaughter, saying a reckless culling could eliminate evidence of the disease's origins and create new dangers.
"We could indeed be destroying the evidence," Dr Jeffrey Gilbert, a WHO animal expert, said in Beijing.
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