http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1421941.htm
[quote]MARK COLVIN: Authorities in China are investigating an outbreak of a mysterious and deadly disease in the country’s southwest.
More than a dozen people in neighbouring farming villages have died, and 40 others been infected.
China has been on alert for a reappearance of the deadly SARS virus, or possible human to human transmission of bird flu.
But health authorities have ruled those out.
They believe the people affected in this case may have caught bacteria common in pigs.
China Correspondent John Taylor reports.
JOHN TAYLOR: At least 17 people have died and 41 others have been infected. Of those, 12 people are in critically ill.
Chinese health authorities don’t know what disease they’re witnessing. Its affects are obvious ?high fever, nausea, vomiting, haemorrhaging ?but what’s causing such symptoms has yet to be identified.[/quote]
The first I remember reading about SARS was an article just like this. It appeared in November 2002 as a brief article on my Yahoo page. A couple of people had died in Guangdong from a “mysterious disease”. Never heard about it again until March 2003, when it started to become a big issue in Beijing and HKG, and it turned out the government had been lying about the problem (later emulated by Taiwanese authorities after excessive finger-pointing).
I just wonder if we’ll be hearing about this again in 3 - 6 months’s time (just in time for winter?)