# 341
Over the past 48 hours a bit of a mystery has emerged on the Internet, with charges by a dissident news agency and denials by the Chinese government over a reported quarantine of either bird flu or SARS patients in Guangzhou, China.
I would caution my readers that right now, we don’t know what is really going on here, and may not know for some time.
This story is a fascinating one, and is evolving.
The dissident Boxun news agency, which has long been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government, released a story late Friday night indicating something ominous was going on in Guangzhou.
Bird flu comes back? Many are quarantined in Guangzhou
By Boxun
Jan 20, 2007 - 10:41:25 AM
Source said dozens of people quarantined in the 8th Hospital in Guangzhou - capital city of Guangdong Province. Many people are also quarantined too in one army hospital in this city. It is believed to be bird flu.
Boxun, which often receives reports from the Chinese mainland from unnamed sources, has in the past broken big stories and was an early source on the SARS outbreak of 2003 long before the Chinese government admitted they had a problem. However, they have also published stories that later were unverifiable. Not surprising, given the logistics of covering the news in China. Opinions, therefore, on the reliability of Boxun reports vary.
A short while later Boxun updated the story with the following:
Update at 11pm Jan. 20 NY Time: Latest information shows the patients are more likely to be SARS. One person from 8th Hospital told reporter that they have some SARS patients, this is not an official annoucement by hospital, thus more information is needed to come to a conclusion.
SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) emerged out of China in 2003, and affected roughly 8000 people worldwide, killing nearly 800. Toronto, Canada was particularly hard hit. There were accusations that the Chinese attempted to cover up this outbreak, and delayed reporting the disease, thereby increasing its spread. The cause of SARS is disputed, but thought to be caused by the coronavirus, and has symptoms similar to that of bird flu.
Over the next 24 hours, our tireless newshounds on the flu forums searched Chinese newspapers looking for any mention of this outbreak, translating as they went. Finally, they found an official denial. A double tip of the hat to Niko and Theresa42 at CE for finding this.
Guangzhou, the Guangdong Provincial Health Department to clarify the hospital no avian flu patients (local)
2007年1月21日 HKT: 下午 12:53:00
There are reports from people infected with avian flu in Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital, are receiving treatment in isolation. The Department of Health said that the Guangdong Provincial Health Department, the hospital has confirmed that the hospital has no bird flu patients or suspected cases of SARS.
At this point, we basically had an unverified story by Boxun, accusing the Chinese of having one or more hospitals quarantined, and an official denial. Not a lot to go on, and I was reluctant to blog on it yesterday, feeling that more information was needed.
Late yesterday, the Taiwan Newspapers carried this report, where their CDC upped the ante:
Health News
Taiwan urges China to verify and publicize suspected SARS cases
By DPA
Jan 21, 2007, 14:36 GMTTaipei - A Taiwan health official on Sunday asked Beijing to verify and publicize 'immediately' suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases in China's Guangdong province.
'According to the Hong Kong press, some people have been isolated at the No 8 People's Hospital in Guangzhou and are suspected of having SARS,' Shih Wen-yi, deputy director of the Centres for Disease control (CDC), told the Central News Agency (CNA).
'We hope the Chinese authorities can immediately verify and publicize the information, to avoid delayed treatment and epidemic control,' Shih said.
'So far all our information is from the Hong Kong press. Taiwan has not received notice about the suspected SARS cases from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention,' Shih said.
Shih said that late last year, there was a case of avian influenza in Anhui province, but China did not report it to the World Health Organization (WHO) until early this year, causing a delay of one month.
'CDC is closely monitoring Guangdong's suspected SARS cases. We urge Taiwanese who have travelled to Guangdong to see doctor if they have fever or other discomfort,' CNA quoted Shih as saying.
The story was now out in the mainstream press, at least in the Far East. Still, none of this brought us any closer to knowing the truth, only a recognition by Taiwanese authorities that they were aware of the reports.
Boxun updated their website once again with this update:
Update at 11am, Jan. 21 NY Time: Official from Public Health Department of Guangzhou officially responded to Boxun's report. According to Xinhua's news release, Xiong Yuan, Deputy Director of Public Health of Guangzhou said that there is no epidemics reported by "overseas media". The head of 8th Hospital made same statement and denied existence of the disease.
Up to now, the strongest third party evidence is the operator of 8th Hospital told calling in reporter that "there are SARS patients". The head of this hospital should explain how could an operator make that claim to a reporter.
Apple Daily, a Hong Kong based newspaper reported that a few media reporters went to 8th Hospital at mid-night on Jan. 20, but none was allowed to enter the hospital.
The latest response from the Chinese government comes from the People’s Daily, where once again they deny any problem in Guangzhou.
S. China province denies bird flu outbreak rumor
South China's Guangdong Province has denied rumors that patients suspected of having SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) or bird flu had been hospitalized in the Eighth Municipal People's Hospital in Guangzhou, the provincial capital.
The denial came after a Hong Kong based newspaper carried an article saying "the hospital has quarantined several fever patients that may have SARS or bird flu," a report by the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily said on Monday, without identifying the newspaper.
The article triggered fear of an epidemic, with reporters from Hong Kong and Macao rushing to the hospital for the scoop.
However, hospital president Tang Xiaoping said the hospital had not received any patients suspected of having SARS or bird flu.
Xiong Yuanda, a spokesman with the municipal health bureau, refuted the article, adding that fears were groundless.
For now, things are at a stalemate. Boxun appears to be standing by their story, China denies it vehemently, and the world stands by and watches and waits.
Frankly, I have no idea what is really going on here. This story may turn out to be false, or to be a misinterpretation of something other than a SARS or Bird Flu outbreak, or it could be the real thing.
There is not much we can do right now, but keep our eyes on china.
