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Beyond the China coronavirus: the deadly diseases Hong Kong and Asia have beaten before
- From Sars to Mers, swine flu to bird flu, the plague to the Hong Kong flu of 1968: here are the other times Asia has fought off deadly diseases
- Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses common in animals, including camels and bats.
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As the Chinese city of Wuhan goes into lockdown to prevent the spread of the China coronavirus, and a handful of other jurisdictions including Hong Kong report their own cases, fears are growing that the situation could turn into a global pandemic.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses common in animals, including camels and bats. Most human coronaviruses, such as the common cold, typically cause mild-to-moderate illness, but some are capable of causing severe disease.
This is not the first time disease has swept Asia. Here are some others:
SARS
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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or Sars, first emerged in China in 2002. The highly infectious virus quickly spread to 37 countries, infecting over 8,000 people and killing813, with over 600 of these deaths in mainland China and Hong Kong. It was contained in 2003 and no cases have been reported since 2004.
Sars symptoms included fever, chills, and body aches and usually progressed to pneumonia.
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After the outbreak, the Chinese government rebuilt its infectious disease control system and strengthened information-sharing networks, both domestically and with international bodies such as the WHO, establishing a national, real-time online reporting system for communicable diseases and public health emergencies. Ironically, this rigorous testing system has been blamed for the long delays in confirming new cases of the Wuhan coronavirus.
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