World Health Organisation comment on China mystery illness

(28 Jul 2005)
1. Exterior World Health Organisation building
2. Wide shot of WHO Spokesman Bob Dietz
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Bob Dietz, WHO Spokesman
"No. It's not going bad, it's continuing. It's obviously too early to say that the situation is under control. But it's also too early to predict a curve, to say whether this is an accelerating curve or decelerating
curve or a curve that is falling off. What the situation bears is obviously close watching."
4. Cutaway to hands
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Bob Dietz, WHO Spokesman
"This isn't something you want to see get out of hand. But again, this doesn't appear to pose a great threat to international public health. Frankly it doesn't even pose a threat to the health of most of the other people in China. But clearly you want to get this under control as quickly as possible."
6. Wide shot of Dietz
STORYLINE:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday that it was closely monitoring the outbreak in China of a pig-borne illness that has so far killed 24 people, and sickened scores more.
A total of 117 confirmed or suspected cases have been found since last month in Sichuan province, according to China's Health Ministry.
The symptoms caused include high fever, bleeding under the skin and poisoning-related shock.
The ministry has blamed the disease on streptococcus suis, a type of bacteria carried by pigs. So far, there has been no reported incident of the disease being transmitted from person to person.
But the outbreak prompted fears that it might be bird flu or a resurgence of severe acute respiratory syndrome, also known as SARS.
The SARS epidemic killed nearly 800 people worldwide before subsiding in July 2003.
Bob Dietz, the spokesman for WHO at its regional office in Manila, said that the situation had not worsened since initial reports of the disease emerged.

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