09/04/27 18:32:30.49 8+BJ4sJe BE:1392120959-PLT(14262) ポイント特典
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SARSに対処した中国人の専門家は月曜日に豚インフルエンザがアジアでパンデミックが起きるのは
時間の問題だと警告した
HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Chinese virologist who helped fight SARS and bird flu warned on Monday of a possible
swine flu pandemic that the most populous countries in Asia, China and India, would be ill-prepared to handle.
"We are counting down to a pandemic," said Guan Yi, a professor at the University of Hong Kong who helped trace
the outbreak of SARS in 2003 to the civet cat.
"I think the spread of this virus in humans cannot possibly be contained within a short time ... there are already cases
in almost every region. The picture is changing every moment."
Guan, who has been studying and tracking the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus ever since it was discovered in people
in Hong Kong in 1997, said there would be "many problems" if swine flu reached China and India, "where populations
are so dense and health infrastructure is still insufficient."
The virus, which carries swine, avian and human DNA and the designation H1N1, has already killed up to 103 people in
Mexico, infected 20 in the United States and six in Canada.
There are many questions surrounding this virus, such as why it appears milder in the United States and deadlier in Mexico.
"It may seem weaker for now in the United States, but we do not know if it will get more virulent when it goes to another
place as it mutates constantly," said Guan.
"When it goes into a place like China, there will be very high transmissibility among people."
URLﾘﾝｸ(uk.reuters.com)