Home
Newsletter
Events
Blogs
Reports
Graphics
RSS
About Us
Support
Write for Us
Media Info
Advertising Info
Health news

Bird flu may have been mistaken for SARS - doctors (press release)

Friday, August 25, 2006 by: NewsTarget
Tags: health news, Natural News, nutrition


Most Viewed Articles
https://www.naturalnews.com/020159_SARS_flu_bird.html
Delicious
diaspora
Print
Email
Share

A Chinese man who died of pneumonia in 2003 and was at first classified as a SARS victim might have in fact died of avian influenza, Chinese researchers reported on Wednesday.

But in a confusing development, at least one of the researchers asked that the letter reporting the case be withdrawn from publication in the New England Journal of Medicine. Editors of the medical journal said they were trying to find out why.

The letter was available to journalists before its withdrawal, and describes the case of a 24-year-old man who died from pneumonia and respiratory distress in November 2003.

"Because the clinical manifestations were consistent with those of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and occurred when sporadic cases of SARS were described in southern China, serum and lung tissue from the patient, as well as fluid aspirated from his chest, were examined for SARS coronavirus," the researchers wrote. "All tests were negative for SARS."

The World Health Organisation said it was asking China's Ministry of Health for clarification.

"This has been signed by eight scientists from very prestigious institutions. It certainly adds weight to the information," said Roy Wadia, WHO spokesman in China.

SARS first broke out in China's southern Guangdong province in 2002 and spread as far afield as Canada before it was brought under control in 2003. It killed close to 800 people out of the 8,000 known to have been infected.

Ironically, experts at the time assumed the then-mysterious illness making people sick in China was H5N1 avian influenza, which broke out in Hong Kong in 1997 and then disappeared.


Receive Our Free Email Newsletter

Get independent news alerts on natural cures, food lab tests, cannabis medicine, science, robotics, drones, privacy and more.


comments powered by Disqus



Natural News Wire (Sponsored Content)

Science.News
Science News & Studies
Medicine.News
Medicine News and Information
Food.News
Food News & Studies
Health.News
Health News & Studies
Herbs.News
Herbs News & Information
Pollution.News
Pollution News & Studies
Cancer.News
Cancer News & Studies
Climate.News
Climate News & Studies
Survival.News
Survival News & Information
Gear.News
Gear News & Information
Glitch.News
News covering technology, stocks, hackers, and more