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SARS death leads to China disputeWHO sees no quick cure
HONG KONG, China -- An American teacher suffering from SARS has died in Hong Kong just hours after being transported by ambulance from Shenzhen on the Chinese mainland. James Salisbury, a 52-year-old English teacher at a polytechnic institute in China, on Wednesday became the former British colony's 27th official fatality after contracting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Hong Kong has been the region hardest hit by SARS outside of the Chinese mainland. The disease has infected at least 970 people there, killing 27, out of a total of more than 2,600 cases worldwide that have claimed at least 106 deaths. A friend of Salisbury's claimed Chinese authorities had refused to allow his ailing friend treatment in Hong Kong when the disease was first diagnosed but later moved him to avoid the death of another foreigner in the mainland. "They didn't want another statistic," said David Westbrook, a friend of Salisbury, according to The Associated Press. Westbrook said Salisbury appeared dead when he was wheeled into an ambulance in Shenzhen across the border from Hong Kong, where he had been hooked up to what appeared to be life support machines. "It looked like they were just trying to keep him alive until they took him to Hong Kong," Westbrook told AP by telephone from his home in Guangdong province. A spokesman who identified himself by the surname Zhang disputed the charge that Salisbury was moved so China could keep him off its SARS death toll list, saying that the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou had requested the move. An information officer at the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong told CNN the request was not made by the U.S. consulate or embassy but by the victim's family, who believed Hong Kong offered superior medical facilities. Salisbury's death came in the wake of accusations by doctors the Chinese government was continuing to under-report the number of SARS cases. Bowing to international pressure, China admitted there were more cases than it initially acknowledged and is providing daily updates. The government also maintains the outbreak is under control. However, in a letter sent to journalists, a Chinese military doctor said six people had died of SARS and 60 had been infected at a military-run hospital in Beijing -- all of which went unreported. China on Thursday said its death toll from SARS has risen by two to 55, and the total number of people infected stands at 1,290. No end in sightDoctors from the World Health Organization say they are not optimistic about a quick eradication of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Dr. Henk Bekedam, a WHO representative in China, told reporters Wednesday: "SARS will be with us for the time being ... We still have a lot to do. We need to find the cause. We have to look at the treatment." Bekedam told reporters that while he thinks health officials are getting a lot closer in learning how to prevent the disease, the key of the moment "is how to contain it." Expert health officials spent six days in Guangdong Province, which is considered to be the epicenter of the disease. The first SARS case was reported in Guangdong Province last November. While there, the doctors spoke to local health officials, visited hospitals and spent time with SARS patients. CNN's Steven Jiang reports that health officials have been looking at various theories on how the disease is contracted and spread.
Jiang says one focus is on the type of patient health officials are calling the "super spreader" -- a person who is highly infectious, capable of infecting significantly more people than most other patients. Health officials told reporters about a patient in China who affected more than a dozen health officials who treated him. A second theory health officials are looking into is whether SARS is actually a combination of viruses. Yet another theory has health officials looking into any link between SARS and the coronavirus family, which is typically found in animals. In other developments: • In Canada, Chinese-Canadians reported they were being discriminated against by those in fear of the virus. At least 226 people have been infected there, with 10 reported SARS deaths. • A Floridian who contracted SARS abroad has infected a coworker, marking the first time the disease may have been spread to someone other than a household member or health care worker in the United States. The U.S. has 149 SARS cases according the WHO figures. (Workplace SARS) • The Roman Catholic church in Singapore has suspended confessions due to the SARS spread. The city-state has the world's fourth highest number of confirmed cases (118) and nine deaths. (Military call-up) • A 62-year-old South African man is being treated at a Pretoria hospital as a "probable SARS" case, according to officials involved in the case. (Full story) • Malaysia has stopped issuing entry visas to most Chinese travelers to curb SARS, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. Malaysia has reported one fatal case of the illness. • Taiwan has again hit out at the WHO's failure to allow experts monitor the SARS outbreak on the island. The WHO, like the U.N., does not recognize the island.
Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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