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DISEASE OUTBREAK
The highly contagious disease known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is beginning to affect chemical business in Asia. In fact, the World Health Organization has recommended that travelers postpone all nonessential travel to Hong Kong and Guangdong province in China. In Hong Kong, office staff wearing surgical masks stay indoors, listening to the radio or surfing the Internet for the latest news of SARS--a flulike pneumonia. The financial losses can't be quantified. They consist of lost sales opportunities, slowdowns in joint-venture negotiations, and the eroding of contact with customers and partners. Elsewhere in Asia, government officials in Singapore asked C&EN's Hong Kong-based reporter to postpone interviews with them. And Shell Chemicals canceled a press conference planned in Singapore. Although the agent responsible for SARS has not been definitely pinned down, health officials are zeroing in on a new form of coronavirus, a family of viruses that are a common cause of mild to moderate respiratory illness. Some patients with SARS have developed high levels of antibodies to the new coronavirus, says Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in Atlanta. Meanwhile, at BASF in Hong Kong, management meets daily to discuss SARS and contingencies if employees become infected. Shell employees in Singapore were told to avoid Hong Kong and Guangdong province, where the disease may have started. At DuPont in Hong Kong, management asked employees to keep a log of visitors. Staff also listened to a doctor who explained how to avoid infection. |
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Chemical & Engineering News |
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