WHO hunts for clues to epidemic

WORLD Health Organisation (WHO) experts in southern China were yesterday continuing their hunt for clues to the origin of a mysterious and deadly flu-like illness that has killed more than 80 people worldwide.

New cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, were reported in Japan, Australia and Russia.

The WHO team said it had received government data indicating that numbers of SARS cases are declining in Guangdong, which has had 40 deaths more than any other area and is suspected of being the source of the illness.

"It is still here. There are still new cases, but there is evidence that the epidemic is under control and that the number of new cases is coming down. That's very good news," said WHO team spokesman Chris Powell.

The decline, he said, is due in part to safety measures in Guangdong hospitals such as wearing masks and goggles that have cut the rate of disease transmission to doctors and nurses, once one of the hardest-hit groups.

However, a team of international health experts visiting south China said yesterday the virus may be contracted without direct physical contact.

The alarming possibility emerged as the WHO group visited the city of Foshan, where the first cases of SARS were detected.

"There are 24 cases in Foshan so far, (and) there are five with no contact," said Mr Powell.

"There was no physical contact, so it must have been contracted through infected (objects)," he said, giving furniture or elevators as examples.

At first, SARS was believed to be spread by heavy droplets, expelled in close proximity by someone who, for instance, sneezes or coughs.

But a big cluster of cases in a 33-storey apartment block in Hong Kong has raised the theory the virus may also be carried by water or by small droplets that linger in the air and are then inhaled.

Officially, 47 deaths and nearly 1,200 cases have been recorded in China by a disease surveillance system that has appeared to be largely a work in progress.

Foshan is the city where the first case of SARS was discovered and has now become the epicentre of an epidemic that has swept the globe.

Members of the WHO delegation yesterday met with health officials in Foshan and were briefed about the known cases.

These included the very first puzzling case, involving a man who infected four others but did not infect his four grown-up children who lived with him.

"There are many little mysteries about all of this," Mr Powell said.

Health experts are ruling nothing out, including a link to animals, as they try to identify the virus in hopes of ultimately defeating it.

"They are suspecting everything, absolutely everything," Mr Powell said.

He said possible defences against the virus included washing one's hands frequently and avoiding touching one's face or rubbing one's eyes, in case one's hands have been in contact with infected objects.

Surgical masks are also very useful, but only to a certain extent, he said.

"They can be a bit dangerous too, if you wear it all the time, and it gets wet, and then they're virtually useless," he said.