Cambodian SARS ?

[jp1]

 

 

To add to all the media hype about SARS, here is a news release from AP about a SARS-like outbreak of disease in Cambodia:

 

In a remote Cambodian jungle hamlet, a tribal chief chanted prayers, drew pig?s blood and strung up chicken feathers to fight a mystery illness ? with symptoms alarmingly similar to SARS ? that was sweeping his community.

 

After weeks of investigations, Western and Cambodian doctors ruled it was not Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome but a still unknown disease that killed seven of the 392 people in Borghok and Ping villages in the Northeastern province of Rattanakkiri. Still, the baffling illness serves as a reminder to the global medical community ? already reeling under the shock of SARS ? that there are other unseen and unknown diseases lurking in various parts of the world.

 

It also highlights the plight of areas untouched by the modern world, where electricity and running water are a luxury and even common diseases such as the flu can be life-threatening.

 

Doctors who visited Borghok and Ping say the disease was nothing like what they have seen before. The symptoms included fever, coughing, breathing problems ? all signs of SARS. But the victims also suffered from diarrhea and maintained normal white blood cell counts, something not usually found in SARS patients.

 

The outbreak began on March 2, baffling the illiterate and dirt-poor residents of the two villages that have no paved roads and whose nearest hospital is a three-hour trek through hilly forest. The area is 325 km northeast of the capital, Phnom Penh.

 

Journalists who visited Borghok recently were told that six residents died within four days of the outbreak, some within 24 hours of falling ill.

 

[Guest]

According to the following article, it is SARS-like, but not SARS. I wonder, how many more unknown deseases are around?

 

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=E9619C1A-0B5A-4631-8B41044F5E325CB8

 

A new SARS-like illness has killed seven people in rural Cambodia, some of them within 24 hours of becoming ill.

 

The World Health Organization and Cambodian officials say the outbreak was first detected in March and has affected 392 people. But they say there is no evidence that this outbreak is in any way linked to SARS.

 

One doctor at the scene, Dr. Prudence Hamade of the British non-governmental organization, Health Unlimited, tells the Associated Press the illness is a form of pneumonia preying on people in perpetually poor health.

 

The unidentified illness is a pulmonary infection with symptoms like those of SARS - fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. Unlike SARS, however, patients suffer from diarrhea but maintain normal white blood cell counts.

 

Doctors have administered antibiotics and other drugs to supplement tribal rituals to bring the outbreak under control.

 

Cambodia is one of the few countries in Asia without a confirmed SARS case.

[butterfly]

I'm in the USA for a few days and just now watching CNN Headline News, the scrolling news on the bottom reports many Cambodians are drinking green pea soup to prevent SARS.

[jp1]

Says butterfly:

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I'm in the USA for a few days and just now watching CNN Headline News, the scrolling news on the bottom reports many Cambodians are drinking green pea soup to prevent SARS.

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Report to WHO:

 

Cambodians found the secret medicine to prevent SARS.

[Guest]

Says butterfly:

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many Cambodians are drinking green pea soup to prevent SARS.

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This would probably explain the diarrhea.

[butterfly]

CNN just corrected it to be green bean soup...O my god I had green bean soup at poi pet at the casino there last week on a visa run..that i did not need as it turned out...