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February 12, 2003

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Panic in South China After Pneumonia Kills Five"

Reuters (www.reutershealth.com) (02/11/03)

Chinese health officials said the recent upswing in pneumonia infections was due to the weather, and that an epidemic is unlikely as there have been effective quarantine measures taken.  Over 300 people have become infected in Guangzhou, Zhuhai, and Shenzhen, located in the southern province of Guangdong, during an outbreak of pneumonia, and five people have died. Store shelves are being emptied of medicines and vinegar, long believed by the Chinese to be a pneumonia preventative, as fear of an epidemic grips the general population of those major cities.  A little over one-third of those infected are medical workers, a health official said.

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