LIFESCIENCE: pigs

[speer@interport.net (speer)]

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ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL 99
LIFESCIENCE
Linz, Austria, September 04 - 09
http://www.aec.at/lifescience
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Rare Virus Infects Malaysian Pigs 

                  Friday, May 7, 1999; 11:39 a.m. EDT

                  KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- An outbreak of viral
encephalitis that has killed more than 100 people in Malaysia has spread to
a new part of the country despite government efforts to control it, an
official said Friday. 

                  The Nipah virus, named after the first village it struck
near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, has sickened more than 250 Malaysians in
eight months. The stubborn virus, which first spread from pigs to humans,
has baffled
scientists researching its origin and mode of transmission. 

                  The virus causes high fever, aches, eventual coma and
death. It surfaced last year near the northern city of Ipoh, then months
later spread to Negeri
                  Sembilan state, the worst-hit area, where more than 50 hog
farmers and farm hands succumbed. 

                  Dr. Chua Soi Lek, an environment and consumer affairs
official, said the virus has now infected nearly all 4,000 pigs on a hog
farm near the village of Senai, 15 miles from Singapore, in the southern
state of Johor, the  government news agency Bernama reported. 

                  All the pigs, along with dogs and cats on the farm, will
be killed early next week. 

                  There have been no recent deaths since authorities shut
down pig farms and slaughtered nearly 1 million hogs suspected of carrying
the virus. But the virus is still surfacing in new areas throughout the
Southeast Asian nation. 

                  ``We're investigating how the virus could have reached
this state,'' Chua was quoted as saying. ``We need to know whether the pigs
were smuggled  here from the affected states.'' 

                  Police have set up roadblocks around infected farms to
prevent pigs being
                  taken across state borders. 

                               © Copyright 1999 The Associated Press

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