SARS disease successfully tracked

The SARS disease has recently caused the cancellations of hundreds of flights to Hong Kong, and other major cities in China.

Airlines such as the South African Airlines (SAA) have stopped flights to the region, contributing to the overall concern with the Iraq war and the spread of this dangerous disease.

"The low demand for seats can be attributed to the Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) disease and other factors such as ... the war in Iraq," he said in a statement released in Johannesburg.

As the number of deaths from SARS increased to at least 150 worldwide, scientists are still trying to figure out what initially caused the epidemic's breakout.

They have been successful in tracking the spread of the new life-threatening disease, which is now thought to have originated from the city of Foshan in Guangdong province of China some time in November 2002. Some scientists believe that the outbreak of the illness could have been less lethal had the Chinese government been keen to the new health threat during the early stages of its spread.

SARS, which originated in this region, is an atypical pneumonia. So far in November last year the disease has claimed the lives of at least 160 people, 61 of them in Hong Kong.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of suspected cases of SARS has now increased to 3,000. China has been hit by the disease most severely with the death toll now at 56 and suspected cases at 1,300.

Hong Kong reported a record nine deaths from SARS on Tuesday, raising the total to more than 30. The number of U.S. cases has increased as well, now at 148 in 30 states.

With the numbers continuing to rise, U.S. health officials are beginning to raise concerns about the disease, which was once thought to be under control. They have already begun to issue guidelines to hospitals throughout the nation on how to handle the disease.

In fact, U.S. scientists have asked more than 13 American and European healthcare companies to help develop a vaccine to protect against SARS, the flu-like disease that has already killed 160 people around the globe.

SARS has also taken grim economic tolls in the affected regions of Asia, as the WHO released a statement saying that the reduced number of investors and tourists could result in an estimated $30 billion loss. It seems that the total amount will only increase as the spread shows no signs of stopping.

The WHO is currently gathering information about the illness throughout the world in the hopes of getting a better idea of what to expect in the rest of the world.

According to an articlei in The Globe and Mail, when the illness was first reported in China, Beijing bureaucrats kept it secret, fearful that panic would affect their economy. The news was suppressed until the infection spilled over the Chinese borders.

The discovery was made by epidemiologists who examined medical records and finally tracked the spread of the disease to the Guangdong province of China. The Chinese capital of Beijing at last woke up to the threat of the virus, and their leaders have declared a battle to help stop the spread of the disease.

Meanwhile, scientists from the United States and Canada have been able to sequence the genetic code for the SARS virus, raising hopes that possible international cooperation will halt the spread of this disease.

Despite Washington health official's concern that it could take years, even many years, to come up with a safe and effective vaccine, cautionary actions such as those taken by airlines will help the spread of the disastrous disease.