SARS a wrinkle in Cape teacher's travel plans

The Great Wall. The Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square.

For Sherri Sparks, they were just exotic places she was determined to see someday -- until she won a teaching grant for a three-week trip to China. She eagerly began learning the language and culture, regularly traveling to St. Louis for classes.

And then came SARS.

"My trip was the first thing I thought of, immediately," said Sparks, a family and consumer science teacher at Central Junior High in Cape Gir-ardeau. "It's not worth my health or the health of others."

If developments with the sometimes fatal and highly contagious severe acute respiratory syndrome go well, Sparks will be on a plane to Beijing on June 18. She and the 20 other teachers who received grants will make the call a month before the departure date.

"My students have been begging me not to go," she said. "I want to give it a little more time to run its course and see what's going on."

China became the focus Monday in the battle against SARS as that country's leaders expressed grave concerns over the deadly outbreak for the first time, following weeks of assurances that the flu-like disease was under control.

In China and Hong Kong, another 11 deaths were reported in the global outbreak that has killed more than 140 people.

Chinese President Hu Jintao was shown visiting hospitals in the southern province of Guangdong, the hard-hit region where severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, is believed to have originated.

"Since the discovery of the SARS cases, I feel very worried. I feel anxious for the masses," Hu was shown telling medical workers on state television.

State media quoted Premier Wen Jiabao as saying the situation "remains grave" and warning that China's economy, international image and social stability could suffer.

He called for airline and train passengers to be screened and quarantined if necessary, among the toughest measures suggested so far as China battles the disease which has killed 64 in the country and sickened more than 1,300.

Four of those deaths were reported Monday, three in Shanxi province and one in the Inner Mongolia region, the World Health Organization announced.

Worldwide, there are more than 3,100 suspected cases of the disease and 144 deaths, mostly in Asia.

New cluster in Canada

In Canada, health officials Monday reported a new cluster of 31 possible cases involving members of a religious community who attended the April 1 funeral of a SARS victim. The 31 people -- 29 members of the religious group and two others who came in contact with them -- were ordered quarantined for 10 days.

Meanwhile, progress was reported on another front: Scientists in Canada and the United States have identified the genetic code of the virus suspected of causing SARS -- a first step toward a better diagnostic test and possible vaccine.

On Monday, Hong Kong reported seven new SARS deaths, for a total of 47. Many of the fatalities have been elderly people or patients suffering from other chronic health problems, although the deaths of six people ages 35 to 52 with no prior health problems were reported over the weekend.

It was unclear whether the mortality rate of SARS was rising or whether there have been more deaths because of an increase in the number of patients, said Dr. Ko Wing-man, acting chief executive of the Hospital Authority.

In Mongolia, five people are hospitalized with what doctors fear may be SARS and one is in quarantine after all visited the same hospital in northern China for treatment, said D. Bat-Ochir, director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases. Mongolia has not reported any deaths or confirmed cases.

Managing editor Heidi Hall contributed to this report.