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Hold Your Breath, Here Comes SARS!
By Mars W. Mosqueda Jr., TheWorldJournal.com

The Hong Kong tourism board's promotion of the country as a destination that "will take your breath away" was seen by many as an exquisite example of unfortunate timing. Laymen call it a work of somebody who has the eye to see the future.

Just as when half-page ads carrying the slogan "Hong Kong will take your breath away", aimed at enticing visitors to the asian country, appeared in various publications, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) epidemic started its rampage in the Pacific Rim.

Hong Kong was the among the first countries hit by the deadly new string of pneumonia that started in southern China.

Shortness of breath is identified as one of the main symptoms of the deadly illness and Hong Kong immediately changed their marketing line from "Hong Kong will take your breath away" to "There's no place like Hong Kong".

"Maybe it was just a coincidence," a Hong Kong resident says. "Changing the line could probably help".

But no matter how often Hong Kong and other countries change their marketing lines, the fact still remains that the Sars epidemic has caused fears among travellers worldwide. And while the deadly pneumonia is quickly spreading around the world, tourism industries started to topple down.

As of this writing, the number of people infected by the dreaded Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has already topped 3,000 worldwide, with 217 deaths reported from 25 countries.

The World Health Organization revealed that China and Hong Kong accounted for around 80% of the fatalities and infections. China topped the list of the cases of infection at 1,418, an increase of 109 from the previous WHO update, followed by Hong Kong at 1,190, up 82.

Tourism industries all over asia suffered a major setback as tourist numbers crashed and travel bans to several SARS-infected countries have been raised. When the first report of SARS broke out a few weeks ago, visitor arrivals in China, Hong Kong, and other Asian countries immediately slowed down.

Airlines have been heavily affected, with tourists avoiding the most infected areas of Asia and businesses banning non-essential travel.

Airlines which normally do quite heavy business in Asia are suffering the most - the combination of the conflict in Iraq and the SARS outbreak are the main perpetrators of the drop in business, with many airlines cutting both staff and flights.

The World Health Organization believes SARS is linked to a disease that broke out in China's southern province of Guangdong in November. Guangdong borders Hong Kong.

The virus has since shown up in Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Canada, Germany and elsewhere in recent weeks. Deaths have been reported in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Canada, Singapore and Thailand.

WHO earlier announced that a new pathogen -- a member of the corona virus family never before seen in humans -- is the cause of Sars. The SARS virus is a new Coronavirus unlike any other known human or animal virus in the Coronavirus family.

Because the virus is new, much about its behaviour is poorly understood. Key questions, which are undergoing intense study, include stages in the course of infection when virus shedding may be highest, and the various concentrations of virus in different body fluids. Scientists are also working to determine the amount of time the virus can survive in the environment on both dry surfaces and in suspension, including in faecal matter.

But while health authorities claim that they have found the source of the virus, citizens around the world are clamouring for more -- an immediate solution, in a form of medicine, that would finally put a halt to the Sars rampage. A medical breakthrough would surely prompt individuals to take their masks off and tourism industries to resurrect.

As of now, nobody knows when the Sars epidemic will finally stop or what country and who will be the next victim of this deadly pneumonia. While no medicine has ever been discovered to fight the illness, everybody is a possible victim of Sars.

Just hold your breath for now or Sars will take it away from you.

© April 30, 2003

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