Cockroaches Suspected of Spreading Deadly SARS Virus.

Hong Kong .. Singapore.

Cockroaches may have carried a deadly flu-like virus through a Hong Kong apartment block, a top health official has said as the disease spread to one of the city's crowded new towns, SwisInfo reports.

In Singapore, air force paramedics have joined the battle against Severs Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the Government said cameras might be used to enforce home quarantine orders.

Hong Kong Deputy Director of Health Leung Pak-yin told a radio program that cockroaches may have carried infected waste from sewerage pipes into apartments at Amoy Gardens in densely populated Kowloon district.

If proved true, it would represent an alarming development in the swiftly spreading epidemic in Hong Kong, a city of seven million people, and filled with densely populated apartment blocks.

"The drainage may be the reason. It is possible that cockroaches carried the virus from drainage pipes into homes" Leung said.
SARS raced through the block in late March, infecting nearly 300 people and forcing residents in the building and others in the complex to flee in panic. The speed of the outbreak has baffled officials.

SARS symptoms include high fever, chills and breathing difficulties, and doctors think the virus is spread through droplets by sneezing and through coughing or by direct contact.

If it can be carried by cockroaches, it would be even harder to contain.

SwissInfo.

"Most recently, and closer to home, we have seen many significant scientific studies that demonstrate how cockroach allergens can trigger asthma in children and the elderly," said Cindy Mannes, public affairs director, NPMA. "Whether they're connected to SARS or not, these creatures can be a public health threat to many, and can be most successfully controls with the help of a licenced and trained pest control professional."