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China extends SARS cull to rats
China's quest to stamp out SARS has spread from the slaughter of civet cats to rats as the southern province of Guangdong orders a large-scale rat extermination campaign.
State media reports Communist Party and Government officials in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, have stipulated a city-wide effort to kill rats or mice between January 10 and 13.
Residents are encouraged to set rat poison in their homes, block all channels of entry for the rodents and to generally clean up surroundings.
Government offices, commercial buildings, apartment compounds and residential neighbourhoods will be especially targeted.
The campaign comes as the official Xinhua news agency reports a man who is China's first SARS victim in six months reported catching a mouse and throwing it out the window before he fell ill in late December.
Roy Wadia, a WHO spokesman in Beijing, says officials have trapped and tested about 30 rats in the man's apartment compound but the evidence is "inconclusive".
The campaign comes on the heels of the slaughter of an estimated 10,000 civet cats being raised or sold in the province's farms, wildlife markets and restaurants by Saturday.
Officials ordered the slaughter after scientists from mainland China and Hong Kong found the weasel-like animals carry a similar SARS virus as the latest SARS victim.
Mr Wadia says while rats have historically been known as the carriers of various diseases, including the plague, WHO wants to see more research into the source of the virus' spread to humans.
"So far, all the available studies that's been done has shown circumstantial evidence, but there's no conclusive link between a certain type of animal and SARS," Mr Wadia said.
"We'd like to see everyone involved in slaughters protected. We'd like to see animal carcasses and remains disposed of safely because there's the possibility of airborne, waterborne or soil contamination."
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