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Sars long lived virus { May 5 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=1624&e=2&u=/nm/20030504/wl_nm/sars_dc_204http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&ncid=1624&e=2&u=/nm/20030504/wl_nm/sars_dc_204
Yahoo! News Mon, May 05, 2003
World - Reuters
New Facts Show SARS a Long-Lived Virus
Sun May 4, 4:49 PM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Maggie Fox and Brian Rhoads
WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - The SARS (news - web sites) virus can live for days in the stool and urine of patients, the World Health Organization (news - web sites) said on Sunday in a new report that could shed light on the frightening spread of the disease.
Hong Kong scientists have suspected the virus could live in sewage -- something that could help explain an outbreak that affected residents at a large apartment complex.
Genetic material from the virus has been found in the stool and urine of patients. The test results posted on the WHO Web Site at http://www.who.int show the virus can live for days in human waste.
"Virus is stable in feces (and urine) at room temperature for at least one to two days," WHO said in a statement. "Virus is more stable (up to 4 days) in stool from diarrhea patients than in normal stool where it could only be found for up to 6 hours."
Acidity seems to be important -- stool in diarrhea is more alkaline and thus seems to be more hospitable for the virus. The stool of newborns, which is more acidic, kills the virus after three hours.
But standard disinfectants such as chlorine bleach killed the virus in five minutes, WHO found.
SARS, which has killed nearly 450 people and infected 6,700 worldwide, is caused by a new member of the coronavirus family. It is related to viruses that cause the common cold and gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases in animals.
There is no standard treatment and 6 percent to 10 percent of patients die. Air travelers have spread the disease across the world. During air travel, the virus can be passed by droplets from the nose and mouth through sneezing and coughing.
But if it acts anything like many other viruses that cause respiratory illness and stomach upset, it can live on surfaces and be passed on when one person touches a contaminated area and then touches his or her own nose, mouth or eyes.
The Washington Post reported that WHO doctors also found the viruses lived on plastic surfaces for 24 hours, although WHO did not post this information on its Web Site.
FIRST FACTS ON SURVIVAL OF VIRUS
"It's the first time we have hard data on the survival of the virus. Before, we were just speculating," WHO scientist Klaus Stohr was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
"There has been a lot of speculation that the touching of objects could be involved. This shows that transmission by contaminated hands or contaminated objects in the environment can play a role."
As in flu and colds, doctors say the best defense against SARS for the average person is to wash the hands frequently.
WHO has warned that Chinese hospitals lack many of standard infection control supplies such as masks and gloves and has hinted that perhaps health workers there are not washing hands often enough and avoiding touching surfaces.
This would be no surprise. Infectious disease experts say hospital workers in Europe and the United States do not either, and that is why so many infections are passed on in hospitals.
Chinese officials said they were doing their best to contain the spread of SARS, which emerged in the southern province of Guangdong in November and which is hitting China harder than anywhere else.
In China, officials ordered schools in Beijing, which had been due to reopen on May 8 after a two-week suspension, to stay closed for another two weeks.
Beijing, which had been reporting more than 100 new cases a day over the past couple of weeks, had 69 fresh cases and four deaths on Sunday, the health ministry said.
WHO says nearly 14,000 people are under quarantine in Beijing. Entire buildings are under wraps, including 27 SARS-designated hospitals, two building sites and three apartment buildings belonging to universities.
In Hong Kong, a major health scare ended happily for 10 Indian sailors, who were released from hospital and declared free of the virus after their tanker made an emergency stop in the territory when members of the crew showed symptoms of respiratory disease and officials feared it was SARS.
Other countries moved to restrict the movements of people they feared might bring SARS.
The oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) bloc proposed that its six member countries impose a blanket ban on people coming from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Gulf nationals coming from those countries would also be quarantined for 10 days.
Many migrant workers in the bloc, which includes Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, come from Asia.
But in India, officials released from quarantine 97 foreigners in the southern city of Secunderabad after two Australians among them were cleared of having SARS.
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