Killer pneumonia is a virus, Indian airports keep watch

The mysterious ‘‘killer pneumonia’’ which has claimed 14 lives, put the airports of the world on high alert, and sparke...

The mysterious ‘‘killer pneumonia’’ which has claimed 14 lives, put the airports of the world on high alert, and sparked a global health warning, has been identified as a virus.

“Reports that the killer disease is a virus belonging to the paramyxoviridae family came in today. This technically makes it a cousin to influenza,” said Dr S M Sapatnekar, director, Haffkine Institute in Mumbai, referring to the illness known as severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS.

Though no cases in India have been reported so far, the Union ministry of health has informed civil aviation authorities to check the index cases and report travellers with any symptoms to them.

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Even as airports and airlines around the world have begun ruling out travel for symptomatic passengers, the scare has hardly caused a stir at the Mumbai airport.

‘‘We won’t be screening the passengers. But we have issued directions to all airline officials to look for symptoms of this fever in their passengers,’’ said a highly placed official from the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

‘‘If any symptoms are detected, government health authorities present at the airport have to be informed so that the passenger can be quarantined,’’ the official added.

The Paramyxoviridae family includes viruses which cause a number of different diseases in humans, including measles. They often also cause respiratory illnesses.

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The decision to put airports and hospitals on high alert was taken today at a meeting called by the Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health.

It was also attended by representatives of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), World Health Organisation, All India Institute of Medical Sciences and heads of departments of all the major hospitals in the Capital.

‘‘The NICD, the designated nodal agency, is monitoring the situation closely. But the ministry has taken a decision to put the hospitals on high alert as a precautionary measure following reports of deaths due to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the media,’’ a Health Ministry spokesperson said.

Dr.S.M.Sapatnekar adds, ‘‘The world has been gearing up for an influenza epidemic for years now. What is worrying about this agressive exovirus is the fact that so many people across the world are dying from it. The medical community and others like airline officials who come in close contact with the infected seem to be especially susceptible.’’ There is even talk that this could be the next major epidemic after ebola, hantaviruses or even the Legionnaire’s disease.)

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Experts at WHO said the virus that has spread to Europe, North America and Australia by air travel, seems to be contained outside Asia. Of the 14 deaths recorded so far, five were in Hong Kong, and two each in Vietnam and Canada.

WHO experts think the same illness was responsible for five deaths in mainland China. Confirmed and suspected cases have also appeared in United States, Germany, Britain, France, Belgium and Finland.

Most cases have been concentrated in Hong Kong, which has more than 120 people ill; Singapore with 23 cases and Vietnam, where 60 are affected. The majority of those infected have been medical staff at hospitals or relatives of people who have fallen ill.