CATS ARE NASTY AND SPREAD DISEASE!!

SARS fears prompt cat slaughter in China

BEIJING - China has ordered about 10,000 civet cats destroyed after
new genetic tests suggest a possible link to SARS.

The government will also close wild-animal markets in the southern
province of Guangdong to prevent possible spread of a deadly virus,
officials said Monday.

The announcement was made on state television by Feng Liuxiang, deputy
director of the province's health department.

A few hours earlier, researchers at Hong Kong University said that
they've found similarities between a virus in the civet cats and a
virus in a patient suspected of having severe acute respiratory
syndrome.

The discovery suggests that either the old disease, or a mutated
coronavirus that causes a new form of SARS, may have "jumped from wild
animals into humans in the past month," the scientists said in a news
release.

IN-DEPTH The Mystery Illness

The cats are often on the menu in many wild game restaurants in
Guangdong.

China banned trade in civets and dozens of other wild animals last
spring when SARS first began spreading around the world. The
prohibition was lifted in August, despite warnings that the creatures
might pose a health threat.

The ban was reimposed when word surfaced last month of a new SARS
case. Tests are still being conducted on the patient to determine if
he contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome. Results are expected
within the next week, officials said. The man is now recovering.

FROM DEC. 29, 2003: WHO to help China with SARS case

Also Monday, China denied Hong Kong media reports that a second person
may have SARS in Guangdong. The woman is a waitress at a wild game
restaurant.

"We do have a fever patient due to pneumonia, but this has no direct
connection with any suspected SARS case," Chinese health authorities
told Xinhua, the country's official news agency.