HIV/AIDS and SARS:
Newsday.com: AIDS patients may resist SARS-related illness. [This runs contrary to previous predictions that SARS would decimate HIV-infected populations, as in Africa. --- docbear]

"I am wondering why there was no SARS virus co-infection in the AIDS cases," Dr. Zhang Fujie, director of AIDS treatment and care for China, said Tuesday in an interview. "We are exchanging information with Hong Kong on this. We will continue to try to understand that."

... SARS so far has presented scientists with a number of perplexing aspects. Some scientists speculate that the virus doesn't actually kill human cells -- that the immune system's overreaction actually precipitates the destruction of cells of the lung and other parts of the body, precipitating the acute pneumonia that is the disease' hallmark. In theory, they say, death may be the result of an aberrant or overly sensitive immune response. If that is proved correct, it's possible that HIV patients may actually be at lower risk for SARS precisely because they lack strong immune responses."

WHO removes travel advisory about Toronto:
Toronto Star: Bowing to political pressure, WHO removes the travel advisory against Toronto, but keeps Toronto on list of "affected" countries.
Alternative headline, by tameszu: Toronto travel advisory is dropped. WHO recants, after considering the merits of Canada's case.

tameszu argued, "If a political advocacy reveals information to the public that it didn't previously know through a media release or through a protest, you cannot decide whether it was properly "political pressure" (connotation: attempting put into play irrelevant political considerations into play to influence a decision) or if it was because the public became more informed, not without looking at the substance of what was said and done.

"When the WHO first brought the advisory down it did not have a team on the ground in Toronto. It reversed the decision after sending a team there to actually inspect the procedures, in person. "

docbear said, "The Ontario Minister of Health went to Geneva. He went with the intent to change a policy. If a politician travels across the Atlantic, to change a policy, that is political pressure, no?

"But will Canada's financial slump reverse because WHO had a change of heart? Toronto could not quickly control the SARS virus. That is the reason that people shunned Toronto."

More stringent checks urged for air-travellers leaving Canada. Meanwhile, the number of probable SARS cases in Canada rose from 142 to 146, in the past 4 days. 20 deaths have beenreported to WHO. Health Canada's Web site says 21 deaths. The WHO statement is here.

South Korea:
No official reports of SARS, to WHO.
1 confirmed case, 15 suspected, according to news item.

JoongangDaily: The South Korean government will treat test positives as confirmation of SARS. The government refuses to report its SARS cases to the World Health Organisation.

"The advisory committee on SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome, at the National Institute of Health said that it will classify people here that have tested positive for the coronavirus, thought to cause the disease, as having contracted the disease. The committee said, however, that it is still discussing with other government bodies what to do about the reclassified persons. It refused to release the number of people here that it now regards as having SARS. "

Hanooki Times, (emphasis added):

The test to confirm whether he did contract SARS or not will take at least two or three days, Kim said, adding that medical staff taking care of him will undergo daily checks to prevent secondary infections.
Kim said the man was not in contact with anybody here because he reported to quarantine officials at the airport as soon as he arrived. He was then taken to the hospital and was isolated for treatment, he said.
The NIH said it will work with related government agencies to trace on the same flight as the SARS patient. Passengers who were on the Chinese Airlines flight are required to stay at home and report immediately to health authorities, the NIH warned.
The agency said it will report the case to the WHO soon, adding that the organization will include the country in a list of countries that reported outbreaks of SARS after the result of the confirmation test on the patient is released.
In the meantime, the NIH said it has found two new suspected cases of SARS, raising the number of suspected patients of the flu-like epidemic to 15.
The two new patients were registering high fevers and coughs when they arrived at the Incheon airport from Beijing on Monday, the institute said. They were taken to a nearby hospital designated for the treatment of suspected SARS patients, officials said.
Five of the 15 patients have tested positive to the polymerase chain reaction test, which is used in some countries to identify the virus-related illness, but the method has not been adopted by the WHO, according to the NIH.
The NIH said it will deploy medical staff who will only deal with SARS cases at public healthcare centers throughout the country, as public fear caused by SARS has increased despite advice from authorities that the virus is only transferred through direct contact with patients.
The health authority has asked military authorities for the use of military hospitals for SARS treatment if the number of suspected patients rises, officials said. Some residents in Seoul have resisted the designation of hospitals to treat people who display symptoms of SARS for fear of the disease.

ASEAN meeting:
The leaders of the "ASEAN Plus Three" nations met April 29 and agreed on a joint approach to SARS. Leaders from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam agreed on the way forward:

• They pledged greater openness, when dealing with SARS.


• They will increase their exchange of information.


• They will establish an international "hotline".


• They will pool their research.


• They will organize two high-level symposiums to help in the fight against SARS, with the first next month, in China.


• They agreed to screen international travelers both on arrival and departure, with temperature checks and standardized health declaration cards.


• They will isolate and treat identified SARS cases.


• They requested that WHO regularly review its travel advisories and its list of SARS-affected areas.

New Zealand
April 29: No cases, reported to WHO yet. News reports show a different picture:

Sky News:New Zealand's Health Ministry said its first victim was a woman who spent 10 days in isolation in hospital. She travelled from China to New Zealand and has now been discharged, to home, where she will be isolated for 10 days. Further details are available from Dow Jones/Yahoo!.

Stuff.co.nz: Christchurch prepares a strict isolation area for SARS, backed up by duct tape.

Russia
No cases, according to WHO.

BBC: One suspected case. Russia has banned travel to China after a Chinese citizen was admitted to hospital on Russia's Pacific island of Sakhalin over fears he may carry the virus. Moscow's top health official, Gennady Onishchenko, on Thursday said: "As of today, I forbid tourism to China as a whole." [Hat-tip to 'Isoc']

Read the complete April 30 SARS Update.