More Human Virus Cases Suspected

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LONDON, England C NN(/a)

Two more cases of suspected foot-and-mouth disease in humans are being investigated by health officials in the UK.

The latest suspected cases come a day after it emerged tests were being carried out on a slaughterman from north Cumbria suspected of contracting the disease.

A spokesman for the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) confirmed on Tuesday that tests were being carried out to confirm whether two more people have the disease.

The spokesman would not say where the latest suspect cases were, or who could be affected, but said they were not in north Cumbria.

"There are a lot of symptoms that can seem similar to foot-and-mouth and the case yesterday has obviously raised concerns," he said.

-- vanman (
fridayfiles@space.com), April 24, 2001

Answers

Fears of more human foot-and-mouth

Tuesday, 24 April, 2001, 17:30 GMT 18:30 UK BBC

Snips .....

Meanwhile, the Isle of Man TT races have become the latest sporting event to be cancelled because of the virus.

By Tuesday the total number of confirmed foot-and-mouth cases in the UK had reached 1,456.

The government also admitted on Tuesday that people living near burning pyres of slaughtered cattle could suffer health problems.

It said that exposure to the smoke from the pyres can exacerbate the symptoms of asthma, and that people less than half a kilometre from even small pyres may be exposed to high concentrations of irritants such as sulphur dioxide. People living close to the pyres should be advised to avoid sustained exposure, it added.

However, it said people were not at risk from increased dioxin levels deposited from the burning carcasses of slaughtered cattle.

-- vanman (fridayfiles@space.com), April 24, 2001.


See my latest reply to another thread on this topic.

It's not surprising that more tests on humans are being done, in fact it's quite appropriate, but these news reports that the tests are being done is inappropriate unless the negative results from virtually all of those tests are also reported...equally as prominently. This is not standard journalistic practice, however, in my experience. Even when negative results are mentioned, this is often not so readily seen by the public, creating a false impression.

-- Andre Weltman (aweltman@state.pa.us), April 30, 2001.


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