Up to half of Beijing doctors who caught SARS now have bone disease

BEIJING (AFP) - Between a third and a half of all medical workers in Beijing who were treated for the potentially deadly SARS (news - web sites) virus this year are now suffering from bone degeneration.

"According to an investigation carried out near all the large hospitals of the capital, between one third and one half of the medical personnel contaminated by SARS are suffering today from degeneration of the bones," medical professor Xu Lin told the Beijing News on Wednesday.

Jiang Suchun, a specialist in infectious diseases at Beijing's 302 Hospital, was quoted as saying the rate of contamination at his hospital varied between 15 and 80 percent.

At Peking University Hospital, 40 male nurses and doctors out of 93 who suffered Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have been struck down by bone disease, said the report.

A similar pattern has been noticed in Hong Kong, which along with Beijing was the hardest hit city in the world by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

Hong Kong recorded 299 SARS-related deaths and nearly 1,800 infections while 193 people died in Beijing from more than 2,520 infections.

Some 50 patients who recovered from SARS in the former British colony are now suffering from bone degeneration, possibly caused by the drugs used to treat the virus, the Hospital Authority (HA) said this week.

HA Chairman Leung Che-hung said the authority had contacted about 1,500 patients who had recovered from SARS and found about 50 of the 500 who had undergone medical examinations were found to have avascular necrosis.

No figure is available for the total number of patients who may be suffering a similar fate in Beijing.

Due to a lack of information and the high cost of examinations, only a small portion of cured patients are still being monitored, The Beijing News said.

It said several recovered SARS patients had asked to be examined but their requests had remained unanswered for at least a week.

Avascular necrosis results from the temporary or permanent loss of blood to the bones, causing tissue to die and sometimes bones to collapse. It commonly affects the ends of longer bones.

Medical experts have said the problem in some recovered SARS patients was possibly linked to the use of the controversial anti-viral drug ribavirin and steroids.