China Dinner Delicacies Succumb To SARS Scare

By Gady A. Epstein

Sun Foreign Staff

Originally published May 14, 2003

GUANGZHOU, China:

…..In southern China, where people have had a centuries-old carnivorous love affair with wild animals, the question of whether SARS might have come from animals is not simply academic. The disease, which emerged here in November, has disrupted eating habits and provoked scrutiny of unsanitary farming practices. It has also forced Chinese to wonder whether, as many scientists have long believed, there may be something about southern China and animals that makes it a wellspring for disease.


“The relationship between human beings and animals is closer here than anywhere else” in China, said Xie Jinkui, a doctor in the mountain city of Heyuan who treated early victims, including Deng Tianlong, who contracted SARS in December after coming here to buy animals for her local market. “People here like to eat wild animals,” Xie said, “and therefore there are more people who prepare them, who cook them, who raise them, who sell them, who eat them. So, there are many more chances to catch disease.”…

The long chain of animal-human contact makes it difficult to pinpoint when and where the disease might have crossed from animals to humans, before spreading via buses, trains, boats and planes to the rest of China and 29 other countries, killing 573 people and infecting 7,548 worldwide. Did the virus migrate from poultry with weak immune systems to pigs to humans on unsanitary farms, as some scientists initially theorized? Or did people catch it from handling or eating infected wild animals, as an increasing number of experts now suggest? In a broad search for clues to the virus’ origins, the WHO team pored over early patient data with scientists from the Guangdong Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and asked health officials for any information about unusual die-offs of animals.

More intriguing, recent government orders seem to focus on the threat posed by wild animals rather than livestock… It is an amazing turnaround for a region known in China for its taste for wild animals. Tradition dictates that wild animals are more nutritious - the rarer the better - and that certain animal parts convey particular health benefits, in some cases for the corresponding human body part. Monkey brains, for example, are said to make the eater smarter; sex organs of deer, tigers, seals and other animals are said to help boost virility or cure infertility. But with endangered or threatened species often finding their way onto menus, the practice has come under increasing fire from inside and outside China, in addition to drawing criticism from Chinese who consider eating wildlife an uncivilized relic of another age. SARS has given a boost to advocates of a nationwide ban on the eating of wildlife……

(From Baltimoresun.com http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/balte.china14may14,0,1494676.story?coll=bal-health-headlines)

** Abdullah ibn Abbas reported that the Messenger of Allah prohibited every beast having a fang (wild animals) and every bird having a talon (i.e. sharp hooked claw). (Narrated by Muslim)

** Abu Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah said, “Every fanged beast (i.e. wild animals) is unlawful for food.” (Narrated by Muslim)

Avian Flu 'Discovered in Pigs'

cientists in China say they have discovered a highly virulent strain of bird flu virus in pigs. An official at the China National Avian Flu Reference Laboratory said the H5N1 virus strain had been found in pigs at several farms in the country.

More than 20 people died and almost 200 million birds were culled during a flu epidemic in Asia earlier this year. The spread to pigs has yet to be confirmed, but there could be serious implications for human health if it is. The World Health Organization said that if the pigs were harbouring both bird and human flu viruses, the two strains could interact to create a strain capable of transferring easily to humans.

Chinese scientist Chen Hualan first announced the existence of bird flu in pigs during a conference speech on Friday. She later told journalists that the virus had been discovered in pigs in south-east China's Fujian province in 2003, and in "another place" in 2004. Officials at both the WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said they were unaware of the new development until Ms Chen's comments.

"I think it's something we've long warned can happen. I don't think we're shocked, but we need more details," WHO spokesman Roy Wadia told the French news agency AFP. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu is currently capable of spreading from poultry to people, but the incidence of cross-species transfer is relatively rare and so far there have been no cases of human-to-human transfer. There is a fear that, if it has spread to pigs, the virus could mutate and form a strain that could then readily transfer to humans. But the WHO cautions that a lot more information is needed before an accurate risk assessment can be made....

Meanwhile bird flu continues to plague many parts of Asia. It ravaged poultry flocks throughout the region earlier this year, and caused the deaths of 27 people in Vietnam and Thailand. A further three people are said to have died from the disease in Vietnam earlier this month. Malaysia is the latest country to report the incidence of the disease in its poultry flock.....

(From BBC NEWS / ASIA-PACIFIC Friday, 20 August, 2004,http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/asia-pacific/3583856.stm)

** In the Quran, Chapter Al-Baqarah verse 173, Allah said, "He hath forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah. But if one is forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor transgressing due limits,- then is he guiltless. For Allah is Oft-forgiving Most Merciful."