Fears killer pneumonia may have hit Britain

HEALTH authorities around the world are struggling to contain a lethal form of pneumonia as air travellers spread it across three continents.

A British man returning from Hong Kong has been admitted to hospital with a suspected case. A second case has also been confirmed.

An expert group is to be set-up here to advise the Government on what has been dubbed the 'flu-like' killer. The bug has already killed nine people in South-East Asia and Canada and caused panic in cities.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a rare emergency warning over the weekend, declaring the sickness "a worldwide health threat".

Health experts said there was a possibility that people living in, or visiting Ireland, could have been in contact with the disease Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) while visiting China, Vietnam, Hong Kong or Canada, where 150 victims have been identified.

The National Disease Surveillance Centre is providing guidance to healthcare professionals to prevent the spread of the disease if it reaches Ireland.

NDSC director Dr Darina O'Flanagan said: "Travellers who have been to any of the affected areas need not be unduly concerned. At present, it appears that the risk of illness is very low even in the affected areas.

"However, if you become ill with flu-like symptoms - such as fever, aching muscles, headache, sore throat, cough and shortness of breath - within 10 days of returning from one of the affected areas, you should contact your doctor.

"At the moment, the only treatment is to ensure that the patient has sufficient fluids and to assist breathing if they are having breathing difficulties."

Experts are still unsure of the origin or cause of the disease. While some within the WHO have warned that it could be the start of worldwide influenza epidemic, one British expert dismissed this.

Professor John Oxford, expert in virology, of St Mary's College in London, said the fact that a culprit had not yet been identified was good news.

So far, there have been nine deaths related to the pneumonia, five in an outbreak of a similar infection two months ago in China, one in Hong Kong, one in Vietnam and two in Canada, believed to be a mother and child returning from the Far East.