Chinese secrecy blamed for super-pneumonia spread

Updated 17:21 28 March 03 NewScientist.com news service

The Chinese government's secrecy has been blamed for the still growing outbreak of super-pneumonia around the world that has infected over 1400 people and killed 54.

The president of Taiwan, which has 10 cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), has been the most outspoken. "SARS first broke out on the Chinese mainland, but the authorities covered up the information, leading to a global epidemic," Chen Shui-bian said on Friday. China initially admitted to five deaths, but a toll of 31, and 800 infections, since November was revealed on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization's pressure on China for more detailed information about its cases of SARS finally bore fruit on Friday. "China has agreed to provide up to date reports and they will be full, frank numbers on a regular basis," said John Mackenzie, the WHO team leader in China.

But WHO officials also warned that more SARS cases are likely to emerge in China, despite claims by the Chinese authorities that the outbreak has been "effectively controlled". Meirion Evans, another member of the WHO expert team, said: "To say it is controlled means that there will be no new cases. At this point it is too early to say that it is controlled anywhere [in the world]."

State secrets

The WHO, seeking Chinese cooperation, is taking a diplomatic approach. But other experts are less constrained. A Beijing-based international health official says it is unlikely that the SARS epidemic in China is restricted to Guangdong, Beijing and Shanxi, as the government claims. "My guess is that it has spread to multiple locations and is affecting people in many places," he told AFP.

The authorities view the release of negative news as damaging to China's international image and a threat to social stability. "Certain communicable diseases are seen as state secrets," the official said.

"It's not a wise policy," warns Hu Jia, director of the Beijing-based Aizhi Institute, a non-governmental body that has been fighting institutional neglect of China's emerging AIDS crisis. "The problem is that keeping the public in the dark also means that public health departments cannot prepare to address the disease if it continues to spread."

On Thursday, the WHO issued new travel guidelines designed to stop the virus's spread. The organisation urged airlines to screen passengers departing from the worst-affected places, where all the deaths have occurred: Hong Kong, Hanoi, Taiwan, Singapore, Canada and Guangdong. Emergency school closures and quarantine measures have also been imposed in Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada.

Prime suspect

The identity of the virus is still unclear. But "data from many network laboratories indicate that a coronavirus is the primary cause of the disease," said Klaus Stöhr, co-ordinator of the WHO collaborative network of SARS research laboratories on Thursday.

"This virus is unlike any known human or animal member of this virus family. But it is consistently found in specimens from SARS patients from many countries. We are very close to knowing for sure," he said.

However, a potential role for a metapneumonovirus, another virus also detected in samples from patients, has not been ruled out. This virus is a member of the paramyxovirus family, which includes pathogens that cause measles and mumps. "From the symptoms, SARS sounds much more like a paramyxovirus than a coronavirus," says Yvonne Cossart, an expert in viruses at the University of Sydney. "So, at the moment, everyone's puzzled."

Teams in four laboratories are currently working on sequencing the new coronavirus, in a bid to determine its origin. Coronaviruses do infect a wide range of animals, says Cossart. Southern China, the location of the first SARS cases, is a hotspot for emerging infectious diseases, such as influenza, which mutate in animals and then cross into people.

Damian Carrington and Emma Young