Doctor who treated patients may have spread fatal flu

A doctor who treated patients suffering from a fatal form of pneumonia in China may have started the chain that spread it around the world.

Hong Kong health authorities said yesterday that the doctor treated patients in Guangdong province, southern China, the source of the outbreak.

He then visited Hong Kong, staying at the Hotel Metropole, before being diagnosed with the disease and dying from it this month.

Seven people who stayed on the same floor of the hotel also contracted the disease, passing it around the city. The doctor also infected a relative.

At least 80 per cent of the 179 cases so far in Hong Kong have been found to have contact lines leading back to the doctor, said Yeoh Eng-kiong, the Health Secretary.

At least two hotel guests also travelled abroad, to Singapore and Vietnam, where the most severe outbreaks outside China have occurred.

In Hong Kong, six people have died, and the worldwide death toll is believed to be 15.

World health officials said yesterday that they were closing in on the cause of the disease. Scientists in 11 laboratories worldwide are collaborating in the effort and focusing their research on the paramyxoviridae family, which includes viruses that cause mumps, measles and common respiratory ailments.

It also includes a sub-family of viruses that can infect humans and animals, including the Nipah virus, which hit Malaysia and Singapore in 1999 after originating from pigs, triggering a mass culling.

One immediate concern about the pneumonia had been that it did not seem to be affected by antibiotics or antiviral drugs. But the World Health Organisation said some cases seemed to be helped by ribavirin, an antiviral drug used to treat hepatitis.

- REUTERS