Rats - next target in China's campaign

Chinese health enforcement officers prepare to transfer a batch of a civet cat to be destroyed in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong province yesterday. China's first SARS patient for six months said he has never had contact with civet cats as concerns mounted Wednesday over a mass slaughter of the animals, which are suspected of spreading the disease. PHOTO: AFP

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, the Guangzhou Daily said.

Residents are encouraged to set rat poison in their homes, block all channels of entry for the rodents, including drains and holes in the walls, and to generally clean up surroundings, the report said.

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Government offices, commercial buildings, apartment compounds and residential neighborhoods will be especially targeted.

The campaign comes as the official Xinhua news agency said Wednesday 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.

Officials had trapped and tested about 30 rats in the man's apartment compound but the evidence was "inconclusive," Roy Wadia, a WHO spokesman in Beijing, told AFP.

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, who has recovered.

The rat killing spree is part of a 15-day city-wide "all citizens patriotic health campaign," the daily said.

Officials are mobilizing the public to "cut off the channel of infections," calling the campaign the "people's war" to prevent the resurgence of SARS.

Rat killers are urged to wear protective gear, including hats, goggles, gloves and boots and are reminded to wash their clothes and shower after the work is done.

Wadia said 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," 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."