Article

2007-05-08 China-Japan-Koreas

Epidemic Is Killing Pigs in Southeastern China

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Posted by Frank G 2007-05-08 00:00|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top

#1 SPACEWAR and other NET News sites had previous articles on China's massive pollution problems, including how farm animals were wallowing in the stuff, and how neither farmers nor local Party oficials had viable plans to resolve the situation.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-05-08 00:06|| 2007-05-08 00:06|| Front Page Top

#2 The wrath of Allan!

Posted by gromgoru 2007-05-08 00:44|| 2007-05-08 00:44|| Front Page Top

#3 ALTERNET > CHINA vs THE WORLD > CHINA [modernizations]THREATENING THE WORLD'S ENVIRONMENT.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-05-08 01:15|| 2007-05-08 01:15|| Front Page Top

#4 Surprise, surprise...government denies there's a problem, refuses to investigate. Remember SARS? It took the threat of a lethal global epidemic (the blame for which would be placed squarely on China) to get the government to move last time. You really think they're going to move for anything less?

Posted by gromky 2007-05-08 01:31|| 2007-05-08 01:31|| Front Page Top

#5 Sounds like a variant of hemmorrhagic fever. If so, the Chinese better hope that it does not jump between species : Ebola and Crimean-Congo are two that did.

Posted by Shieldwolf 2007-05-08 02:38|| 2007-05-08 02:38|| Front Page Top

#6 Maybe I'm just old and cynical but somehow I can't see the powers that be in Beijing caring much about the deaths of some backwoods farmers in the hinterlands. I suspect the mandarins see them as "useless mouths" and would not be bothered in the slightest about their demise--no matter how big the numbers--unless it somehow ends up redounding to China's international discredit. Absent such an motivating effect, Beijing's power elite has other, and far more pressing, concerns to deal with.

Posted by Mac 2007-05-08 03:16|| 2007-05-08 03:16|| Front Page Top

#7 Well, it's more like Beijing has no power in the provinces. It's all rapacious local officials. It's the local officials that treat their own people like animals. What would Alec Baldwin think if he met a gimme-cap wearing truck driver?

Posted by gromky 2007-05-08 03:59|| 2007-05-08 03:59|| Front Page Top

#8 Compare to IPSNEWS > CHINDIA [China-India]: THE EMERGENCE OF A FUTURE WORLD SUPERPOWER. You just know RUSSIA isn't gonna be happy.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-05-08 05:15|| 2007-05-08 05:15|| Front Page Top

#9 Pork is huge in China : the major meat ingredient for many Chinese dishes. The loss of a couple of provinces' pig herds can cause general unrest, the kind that leads to rural revolts.
Also, China has to worry if this jumps to people : tourists tend to avoid hemorrhagic fever zones and the Beijing Olympics could be endangered by something like that. If Southern China does become a Hot Zone, it is likely that most countries will boycott the Beijing Olympics simply from a public health and safety point of view.

Posted by Shieldwolf 2007-05-08 05:31|| 2007-05-08 05:31|| Front Page Top

#10 Yes, Shieldwolf, the Olympics! That's gotta be their weak link.

Posted by Bobby 2007-05-08 06:03|| 2007-05-08 06:03|| Front Page Top

#11 "In China's time zone, the first day of the Red Pig Year is February 4th, 2007."

Hey, looks like this fortune cookie came good.

Posted by Classer 2007-05-08 06:20|| 2007-05-08 06:20|| Front Page Top

#12 Pork is by far the major protein product in East Asia (excluding the fish-eaters of Japan). Any threat to that product has to be of concern.

Posted by Sneaze 2007-05-08 08:06|| 2007-05-08 08:06|| Front Page Top

#13 I suspect poisoning. If it was hemorrhagic disease, it would be unlikely that skin lesions would appear--not enough time.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-05-08 09:55|| 2007-05-08 09:55|| Front Page Top

#14 Map of Guangdong Province:

http://www.maps-of-china.com/guangdong-s-ow.shtml

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-05-08 09:57|| 2007-05-08 09:57|| Front Page Top

#15 Some human hemorrhagic fevers do included skin lesions among symptoms - Marburg especially, 2-7 days post onset. Bruising (purpura) and hemorrhagic lesions also common in CCHF. Rash/petechiae common in some variants of hemorrhagic dengue.

Posted by sofia">sofia 2007-05-08 12:39|| 2007-05-08 12:39|| Front Page Top

#16 Also, China has to worry if this jumps to people : tourists tend to avoid hemorrhagic fever zones and the Beijing Olympics could be endangered by something like that. If Southern China does become a Hot Zone, it is likely that most countries will boycott the Beijing Olympics simply from a public health and safety point of view.

This is yet one more potential epidemic coming from China. While such a large coutry represents an ideal incubator for new viral strains, China does little to avoid exacerbating the problem with poisoning the environment, inadequate sewage processing, chemical contamination that weakens animal resistance and a host of other poor hygeinic practices that breed up all sorts of nastiness.

The hidden cost is that to the global community. The SARS virus cost Canada alone billions in lost tourist revenue. Medical expenses from the endless stream of infectious diseases pouring out of China cost this world untold other billions. China is a pariah nation that is one of the absolute worst neighbors, especially for its size and economy. They might as well be some festering African shithole for the trouble they cause.

We seriously need to withhold all foreign medical aid in the face of these self-induced crises. China needs to experience a catastrophic financial drain upon its own resources as a penalty for malign neglect general incompetence. This is one of the few ways that China's gross pollution, unfair trade practices and currency manipulation can be adequately penalized.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-05-08 16:33|| 2007-05-08 16:33|| Front Page Top

#17 Jeebus Zen!

Posted by bigjim-ky 2007-05-08 17:00|| 2007-05-08 17:00|| Front Page Top

#18 Zen, learn us some good jokes plz. >:)

Posted by RD 2007-05-08 23:56|| 2007-05-08 23:56|| Front Page Top

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