In an interview with Xinhua Monday, Yuen Kwok Yung, head of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Hong Kong, said the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus is definitely a virus existing in certain wildlife. Without naming the exact type of wildlife in question, he stressed that under normal circumstances, the kind of animal does not have close contact with human beings.

"Certain wildlife is supposed to be at a distance away from human beings in the natural environment. When one handles them at a short distance, the time one exposes himself or herself to them poses danger.

"Now in that case, you would not know whether it was the blood or the feces that pose the danger," he said.

And killing an animal for food must be executed very skillfully, and the meat should be consumed within a certain period of time, Yung said.

"Just like what was taught in the Analects of Confucius, you need a skillful butcher in order to execute that well, and within a number of days, the meat must be consumed. If the color becomes strange, if it tastes bad and if the quality changes, don't consume it," he said.

Yung euphemistically called on the public to observe good hygiene in the foodstuff markets by introducing a central butchery.

After the invention of refrigeration, it is preferable to sell frozen meat rather than living animals in the market places, said Yuen.

Yuen cited the selling of living chickens, ducks and gooses in the open market place in Hong Kong would have been contributed to the outbreak of influenza in Hong Kong in 1957 and 1968. Though the common flu can now be cured easily, it could not be then and was lethal.

Meanwhile, Yuen also made a startling remarks during the interview that SARS can in fact, survive for about 24 hours on dry surfaces and shorter periods on wet surfaces.

(Xinhua News Agency May 5, 2003)