HONG KONG (Reuters) - Opposite a writhing mass of snakes in a glass
tank, Kam Oi-ho stirred a steaming pot of snake soup and filled a bowl
for his first customer of the day.
Chinese people think eating snakes is good for you, especially in
winter when the meat is believed to keep you warm. But not this year.
"Our business has plunged 70 to 80 percent since the SARS (news - web
sites) outbreak last year," Kam said, as he looked around his near
empty stall, which also sports bottles of wine containing snakes and
their innards.
"The recent scare in Guangzhou has slashed business by another 40
percent in the past few weeks," he said.
China has confirmed three new cases of Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome in recent weeks in the southern province of Guangdong, where
the disease first emerged in late 2002 before spreading to more than
30 countries.
The virus eventually infected about 8,000 people and killed nearly 800
of them, including 299 in Hong Kong.
Snake lovers used to have their fill in small Hong Kong stalls like
Kam's, where snakes are sometimes killed and skinned next to your
table. There were even special snake banquets, where every part was
used and cooked in different ways.
The mild-tasting meat is firmer than fish but often more tender than
chicken. The organs of the animals, most of which are caught in the
wild in Southeast Asia, are touted as having all sorts of benefits.
But experts believe the SARS virus jumped from animals to humans.
Prime suspect is the civet cat, also served up as a delicacy, and even
though snakes have never figured on the list of possible SARS sources,
diners are taking no chances.
"Since the SARS outbreak last year, I feel wild animals are
disgusting. I haven't had any snake soup since," said Betty Chan, a
company executive.
GOOD OLD DAYS
On the walls of Kam's shop, one of Hong Kong's oldest and best-known,
aging newspaper clippings are proof that business was brisk in the
past.
"In the peak winter season, we used to sell 300 to 500 bowls of snake
soup a day. Now we sell maybe only about 100 bowls," said Kam, whose
"Snake King Yuen" stall also supplies snake meat to large restaurants.
"Out of every 100 restaurants that used to serve snake soup or dishes,
only 10 are still doing so," he said, as he drew a wriggling serpent
from a container and headed to the slaughter room.
"We keep only 50 snakes in this stall, compared with more than 1,000
in the past," Kam said, as he slit a snake lengthwise with a knife,
removing its skin and plucking out the organs.
"There are about 100 snake stalls in Hong Kong. I think about half of
them will have to fold soon," he said.
Yip Kwok-leung, who runs the Snake King Leung eatery, agreed.
"This is the worst time in my 20-odd years in this trade. Our
customers have fallen by half since the last SARS outbreak and I think
the trade will get more difficult in the future."
But snake meat still has some fans.
"There are so many animals that are said to be bad to eat. Can we
possibly avoid all of them?" said Peter Leung as he waited for his
order.
"I live far away but I had to come here for snake soup because many
others have shut down," he said.
> GUANGZHOU, China (AFP) - World Health Organisation experts searched
> animal markets for clues to explain the re-emergence of SARS (news -
> web sites) as hundreds of raccoon dogs were killed in the latest cull
> linked to the virus.
>
> The authorities in the southern province of Guangdong have reported
> one confirmed and two suspected cases of SARS, the first time the
> virus has emerged in China since the country was declared SARS-free by
> the WHO in June.
>
> The WHO is still awaiting laboratory results that could confirm the
> two suspect cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, but the lack
> of causal links among the patients is confounding the experts.
>
> "There is certainly no smoking gun at the moment with any of the three
> cases that would enable us to say precisely where they got it," WHO
> team leader Dr Robert Breiman said Wednesday in the southern city of
> Guangzhou.
>
> "It's still a little bit of a mystery, a bit of what you might call a
> jigsaw puzzle and at some point I have a feeling this will all come
> together and maybe be fairly obvious, but at the moment it's not
> clear."
>
> A 20-year-old waitress and 35-year-old businessman remain suspected
> SARS patients in a southern Guangzhou city hospital and are in a
> stable condition, the Chinese Health Ministry said in its daily report
> Wednesday.
>
> A 32-year-old man identified as China's only confirmed case since last
> year's deadly epidemic was released from hospital last week.
>
> Chinese health professionals and the WHO agree that this year's cases
> bear little resemblance to those from last year, when SARS emerged in
> Guangdong province and went on to kill nearly 800 people worldwide.
>
> The China Youth Daily cited Guangzhou Respiratory Illness Research
> Institute deputy director Xiao Zhenglun as making clear the current
> instances were quite different from the cases last year.
>
> "And also quite different from the cases that appeared in Taiwan and
> Singapore this year," Xiao said, referring to the only other SARS
> cases reported since the WHO declared the initial global outbreak over
> last July.
>
> The global health body said the intensity of the disease has
> diminished, while the trasmission rate is so far nominal when compared
> to the explosion of cases beginning in November 2002 in Guangdong.
>
> "The severity of the sickness has been much less than last year," said
> Roy Wadia, a spokesman for the WHO in Guangzhou.
>
> Seeking the origin of the pneumonia-like disease, WHO experts returned
> to the Xinyuan animal market Wednesday, one of the city's largest
> suppliers of wildlife such as the civet cat, long suspected as a
> possible source of SARS.
>
> The WHO's environmental experts took samples from chicken, duck and
> peacock coops.
>
> "The WHO is hoping to get a wider sampling of the animal market,"
> Wadia said. "It's like taking a control group so you can control tests
> on the sample procedures."
>
> Meanwhile, China's campaign to exterminate civet cats and rats in
> Guangdong has extended to raccoon dogs and badgers.
>
> Province-wide, 558 raccoon dogs and 10 badgers have been killed, and
> the same fate has befallen 3,945 civet casts, the Guangzhou Daily
> said. Most of them were drowned in disinfectant and then incinerated.
>
> The WHO reiterated concerns that any such cull could be dangerous.
>
> "If the animal does harbour the virus, then its even more of a
> concern," said Wadia.
>
> Amid complaints by animal dealers and restaurant owners that Guangdong
> authorities have been too quick to take action, propaganda pamphlets
> linking the virus found in the civet to that in SARS could be found
> around the city's markets and restaurants.
>
> The city government has banned the breeding, sale, distribution and
> consumption of civet cat, raccoon dog and badger -- all of which are
> popular delicacies in Guangdong.
>
> > PARIS (AFP) - China's hasty culling of civet cats to combat a feared
> > resurgence of SARS (news - web sites) is premature and potentially
> > misguided and may even be fingering an animal that is innocent,
> > experts said.
> >
> > There are numerous other species, ranging from rats to domestic cats,
> > that can carry the SARS virus, they said.
> >
> > But, they stressed, no-one yet knows how or even if any of these
> > species can transmit the virus to humans -- or indeed whether these
> > animals were infected by humans in the first place rather than the
> > other way round.
> >
> > Officials fanned out across farms, wildlife markets and restaurants in
> > southern China's Guangdong province on Tuesday to round up caged
> > civets, a local culinary delicacy blamed for spreading Severe Acute
> > Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) to humans in proximity.
> >
> > All estimated 10,000 farmed civets are to be killed by January 10 -- a
> > death sentence pronounced after a half-year lull in China's SARS
> > cases.
> >
> > But Dutch virologist Albert Osterhaus of the Erasmus Medical Centre in
> > Rotterdam said the weasel-like mammal, a cousin of the mongoose, was
> > only one among many theoretical animal vectors of SARS.
> >
> > "The presence of the virus has been demonstrated in civet cats at
> > market places but also in raccoon dogs and badger ferrets, and there
> > are also a number of other species, such as domestic ferrets and cats,
> > which can be (experimentally) infected," Osterhaus told AFP.
> >
> > "The virus is relatively promiscuous. It can infect many different
> > animal species, probably also including rodents, so taking all those
> > things together, the question really is whether the culprit is indeed
> > the civet cat."
> >
> > Even though these species have been identified as being able to
> > harbour the virus, no-one knows whether they can transmit the agent to
> > humans, or indeed whether they were infected by humans in the first
> > place, Osterhaus said.
> >
> > The pathway of transmission "is not clear at the moment," he said.
> >
> > The civet cull was ordered in response to a single case of SARS,
> > involving a 32-year-old television journalist from Guangdong who has
> > since recovered. Scientists found civet cats had a coronavirus similar
> > to the SARS virus found in the patient.
> >
> > Linda Saif, a professor at Ohio State University who is one of the
> > world's leading authorities on animal coronaviruses, said the Chinese
> > were clearly inspired by the mass slaughter of chickens in Hong Kong
> > in 1997 that stamped out the peril of "bird flu."
> >
> > The difference was that this time around, hard virological data
> > pinpointing a specific animal risk are only sketchy, she said.
> >
> > It was still unclear whether civets or other species can spread the
> > agent among humans, or if so, whether wild civets could pose a similar
> > threat, thus creating a viral "reservoir" that may never be
> > eliminated.
> >
> > "At this point, I'm not sure you have all the information to begin
> > this major eradication campaign," she said.
> >
> > The World Health Organisation (WHO) diplomatically accused China on
> > Tuesday of rushing into the cull without conducting "a clear risk
> > assessment," notably whether the procedure could expose the
> > slaughterers themselves to infection.
> >
> > "It is perfectly possible to assess these risks but as far as we are
> > aware that has not yet been done because this was a decision taken
> > rapidly in response to new information," WHO spokesman Iain Simpson
> > said in Geneva.
> >
> > "(...) The problem is that all the focus on civet cats and the
> > slaughter of civet cats might divert attention from elsewhere," he
> > warned.
> >
> > Sources said the civet campaign showed China was quick to show it
> > could be active rather than reactive to SARS and had woken up to the
> > threat, in lives and economic damage, that the disease could pose.
> >
> > Its early attempt to cover up the first cases of SARS in Guangdong in
> > late 2002 was blamed for catastrophically spreading the novel disease
> > to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, Canada, France and elsewhere.
> >
> > The outbreak claimed around 800 lives and infected 8,000 people before
> > it was stopped in the middle of 2003, using traditional methods of
> > quarantine and isolation in the absence of a cure or a vaccine.
> >
> > > BEIJING (Reuters) - A suspected SARS (news - web sites) patient in
> > > southern China may have caught a new, mutated strain of the deadly
> > > virus, a genetics expert researching the case said on Sunday.
> > >
> > > Chinese media also speculated the patient, a 32-year-old television
> > > producer, might have caught the virus from rats but this has not been
> > > confirmed.
> > >
> > > "It's definitely a coronavirus, but it's a different strain from the
> > > virus last year," Chen Qiuxia of the Guangdong Center for Disease
> > > Prevention and Control told Reuters. "Our gene testing showed the
> > > difference."
> > >
> > > Chen, ruling out the possibility of contamination in the laboratory
> > > skewing the results, said the virus may be a mutation of the
> > > coronavirus blamed for the SARS outbreak last year that infected about
> > > 8,000 people worldwide and killed almost 800.
> > >
> > > The SARS virus belongs to the coronavirus family which also causes the
> > > common cold in humans.
> > >
> > > Most scientists say flu-like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which
> > > first surfaced in southern China in November 2002, is likely to have
> > > spread from farms in the region, possibly jumping to humans from
> > > animals such as civet cats, ducks, pigs and rats.
> > >
> > > A battery of lab tests on the television producer, China's first
> > > suspected SARS case since the World Health Organization (news - web
> > > sites) (WHO) declared the world SARS free in July, have been
> > > inconclusive.
> > >
> > > Roy Wadia, WHO spokesman in Beijing, declined to comment on the
> > > possibility the man might have a new strain of SARS, saying the
> > > organization had not yet examined Chen's study.
> > >
> > > The Beijing Youth Daily, however, quoted an expert from a military
> > > medical research institute cautioning that it was too early to say if
> > > the man was infected with a mutated version of SARS, and further, more
> > > comprehensive gene tests were necessary.
> > >
> > > Last week, China reported that a viral gene sequencing test showed a
> > > high correlation with the gene sequence of the coronavirus that causes
> > > SARS.
> > >
> > > The WHO has noted that tiny fragments of a virus gene similar to the
> > > SARS pathogen have appeared in a small number of samples.
> > >
> > > It says laboratories in Hong Kong running further tests might be able
> > > to offer a definitive diagnosis this week.
> > >
> > > Chinese media have reported that the patient had contact with rats
> > > before he got sick and speculated there may be a link, but Chen said:
> > > "So far we still cannot prove that it's related to rats."
> > >
> > > The WHO's Wadia said the possible rat connection was something its
> > > experts had noted, but it was too early to comment.
> > >
> > > > BEIJING (AFP) - The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS (news -
> > > > web sites)) virus returned to haunt China for the first time in six
> > > > months as a suspected case in southern Guangdong province was upgraded
> > > > to a confirmed case by senior health officials.
> > > >
> > > > "The case has been confirmed," Feng Shaoming, spokesman for the
> > > > Guangdong Center for Disease Control, told AFP. "Our experts at the
> > > > Center for Disease Control have made many tests and they are all
> > > > positive."
> > > >
> > > > SARS triggered a worldwide health crisis after emerging in Guangdong
> > > > in November last year, causing 774 deaths and more than 8,000
> > > > infections, the vast majority in Asia.
> > > >
> > > > Feng said three experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) were
> > > > in Guangdong's provincial capital of Guangzhou Tuesday and were going
> > > > over the test results.
> > > >
> > > > He acknowledged that the case could not be officially upgraded to a
> > > > confirmed case until the Ministry of Health made a formal
> > > > announcement.
> > > >
> > > > "So far the Ministry of Health has not announced it, nor has the World
> > > > Health Organization (news - web sites) (WHO). I don't know when they
> > > > will, it is up to them, but our experts here have confirmed it."
> > > >
> > > > In its daily SARS report Tuesday, the ministry said no new suspected,
> > > > clinically confirmed or confirmed cases of SARS had been reported
> > > > nationwide from 10 am Monday to 10 am Tuesday.
> > > >
> > > > "According to reports from across the country at present there is only
> > > > one suspected case of SARS and no clinically confirmed or confirmed
> > > > cases," the ministry said.
> > > >
> > > > Wang Maowu, director of disease control at the national-level Chinese
> > > > Centre for Disease Control, told AFP an official statement was likely
> > > > to be issued Wednesday.
> > > >
> > > > Roy Wadia, WHO's Beijing-based spokesman said that the WHO was trying
> > > > to contact their ministry counterparts and reiterated that the WHO
> > > > would be prudent in verifying the test results.
> > > >
> > > > "We are trying to get confirmation with the Ministry of Health," Wadia
> > > > said.
> > > >
> > > > "So far we have no official word ourselves."
> > > >
> > > > China's health ministry announced Saturday the discovery of a
> > > > suspected SARS case in a 32-year-old man in Guangzhou, near where the
> > > > virus was first detected in Foshan city on November 16 last year.
> > > >
> > > > Panyu city, where the freelance journalist, identified only as Luo,
> > > > comes from is barely 40 kilometres (24.8 miles) from Foshan.
> > > >
> > > > None of the 42 people that came in close contact with Luo nor the 39
> > > > who had normal contact have developed fever or other abnormal
> > > > reactions, the ministry said, adding that nine people have been
> > > > removed from medical observation.
> > > >
> > > > It said Luo was in a stable condition and had had a normal temperature
> > > > for seven consuective days.
> > > >
> > > > Luo developed a fever on December 16 and was hospitalized with
> > > > pneumonia in the right lung on December 20.
> > > >
> > > > Scientists suspect the SARS epidemic may have originated from wild
> > > > animals sold for food in Guangdong's markets.
> > > >
> > > > While both Singapore and Taiwan have reported SARS cases since the
> > > > epidemic petered out in July, they were traced to laboratories where
> > > > research had been conducted on the virus and not to the general
> > > > population.
> > > >
> > > > On Tuesday, the WHO team in Guangzhou met with the patient, Hong Kong
> > > > radio reported.
> > > >
> > > > After the meeting, WHO expert Augusto Pinto told reporters they would
> > > > be carrying out detailed investigations on test results and estimated
> > > > that it would take several days to review the data.
> > > >
> > > > SARS symptoms are similar to other respiratory diseases with the onset
> > > > of the disease only fully confirmed after a battery of tests are
> > > > taken, including tests for SARS antibodies in the patient.
> > > >
> > > > No vaccine is yet available.
> > > >
> > > > China has issued health notices that include five-levels of SARS
> > > > diagnoses among which are suspected cases, clinically confirmed cases
> > > > and confirmed cases.
> > > >
> > > > In the initial outbreak in late 2002 and early this year suspected
> > > > SARS cases were routinely hospitalized and treated as full blown cases
> > > > due to the absence of a timely test for the disease, medical officials
> > > > told AFP.
> > > >
> > > > In retrospect, an untold number of people contracted SARS after being
> > > > hospitalized with other SARS patients, while in Taiwan nearly 100
> > > > fatalities first attributed to SARS were later rediagnosed as non-SARS
> > > > related.
> > > >
> > > > China was the country worst affected by the SARS epidemic, infecting
> > > > 5,327 people nationwide and killing 349.
> > > >
> > > > The disease spilled into neighboring Hong Kong where 299 died as it
> > > > spread globally, devastating economies across Asia with travel and
> > > > tourism sectors losing hundreds of millions of dollars.
> > > >
> > > > > Sun Dec 21, 6:05 PM ET
> > > > >
> > > > > BEIJING (AFP) - A restaurant in southern China's Guangdong province is
> > > > > doing a brisk business in rat dishes, ignoring all warnings to stop
> > > > > serving wildlife to prevent the spread of SARS (news - web sites),
> > > > > state media said.
> > > > >
> > > > > The eatery, in the city of Zhuhai, sells more than 100 rats a day, the
> > > > > Xinxishibao or Information Times reported.
> > > > >
> > > > > Some of the rats are caught in farm fields, while others are from the
> > > > > mountains.
> > > > >
> > > > > Southern Chinese believe rodents are safe to eat or turn into wine if
> > > > > they are caught in countryside. However, regardless of whether they
> > > > > are from rural or urban areas, they can transmit diseases, the report
> > > > > quoted experts saying.
> > > > >
> > > > > The outbreak of SARS in Guangdong last November did not discourage
> > > > > local residents -- known for their taste for exotic dishes -- from
> > > > > their eating habits.
> > > > >
> > > > > Scientists from China and elsewhere found the Severe Acute Respiratory
> > > > > Syndrome (SARS) virus in several types of wildlife, including rats,
> > > > > and the government forbade vendors from selling wild animals,
> > > > > especially endangered animals.
> > > > >
> > > > > Officials also tried to discourage people from eating such creatures,
> > > > > but the practice, part of Guangdong culture, continues.
> > > > >
> > > > > Rats served by the restaurant can be as big as over 20 centimeters
> > > > > (eight inches) long, the report said.
> > > > >
> > > > > The restaurant skins the rodents by putting them in a pot of melted
> > > > > asphalt, it said. Their skin comes off when the cooled asphalt is
> > > > > peeled off them.
> > > > >
> > > > > SARS infected almost 8,500 people and killed nearly 800 worldwide
> > > > > before it was brought under control mid-year.
> > > > >
> > > > > China was the epidemic's country of origin and also its main victim,
> > > > > accounting for 349 fatalities and 5,327 infections, of which 193
> > > > > deaths were in Beijing.
> > > > >
> > > > > > TAIPEI (AFP) - Taiwan's parliament has banned the selling of dog meat
> > > > > > in an effort to deter the slaughtering of strays, a lawmaker's aide
> > > > > > said.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The original law barred the killing of pets, including dogs and cats,
> > > > > > for their meat, skin (news - web sites) or other parts for financial
> > > > > > benefit.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > But it failed to stop vendors from selling slaughtered dogs or to stop
> > > > > > restaurants from offering dog meat as a delicacy.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > They were able to evade punishment by claiming that they did not kill
> > > > > > the animals themselves, said the aide to Wang Sing-nan, who proposed
> > > > > > the amendment.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > "We hope by stopping the sale of dog meat, the killing will stop too,"
> > > > > > the aide said.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The amendment, passed Tuesday, also increased penalties for violators,
> > > > > > with the fine raised to a maximum of 250,000 Taiwan dollars (7,355 US
> > > > > > dollars), from 10,000 dollars.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Help-Save-A-Pet Fund in Taiwan, a non-profit organization advocating
> > > > > > animal rights, welcomed the bill and planned to offer small rewards to
> > > > > > those providing tips on dog meat sellers.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Secretary-general Liu Yu-tung said she hoped for a further law change
> > > > > > to ban the eating of dog meat altogether. |