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Thursday, 28 March 2024

Dr. Fauci calls Diamond Princess infection 'incubator'

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Dr. Fauci calls Diamond Princess infection 'incubator'
Dr. Fauci calls Diamond Princess infection 'incubator'

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said at the Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday that the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan could reveal potential "modalities of transmission." Gavino Garay reports.

(EDITOR'S PLEASE NOTE - RESENDING WITH CORRECT RESTRICTIONS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, SAYING: "You couldn't have a better incubator for infection." A top U.S. health official on Tuesday weighed in on the Diamond Princess, which has been quarantined off the port of Yokohama, Japan for weeks and now has a staggering 542 infected passengers, according to the Japanese health ministry.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director Of The U.S. National Institutes Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases at a discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations on global health threats, weighed in on the conditions aboard that ship, and what it could possibly reveal about the virus.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, SAYING: "You couldn't have a better incubator for infection.

So it confirms what we already know.

That this is a highly transmissible virus.

You amplify that when you put it in a closed space.

It could also tell us something about some of the modalities of transmission that we didn't appreciate before.

You know, we had a very interesting experience with SARS in Hong Kong, in an apartment complex, the Amoy Garden apartment complex.

Something went on in that apartment where the virus actually got aerosolized, cuz the virus gets into the stool, and feces, that when people were flushing toilets, they didn't see this very invisible, aerosolized, that vertically transmitted, the people on the 2nd floor were giving it to people on the 10th floor.

That's something that possibly be going on in the ship.

We don't know." Japan plans to start trials of HIV medications to treat coronavirus patients.

HIV drugs have been touted as a potential cure for the coronavirus, which has killed almost 1,900 people in mainland China.

No therapy has yet proven fully effective against the infection, and there is currently no known cure.

U.S. government evacuation flights on Monday flew home more than 300 Americans who had been on board the Diamond Princess.

Some 3000 passengers and crew are still on the ship.

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