U.S. says diplomats in China hit by mystery illnessJune 7, 2018 / 12:09 AM / Updated 36 minutes ago
WASHINGTON/GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has
brought a group of diplomats home from Guangzhou, China, over concern
they were suffering from a mysterious malady that resembles a brain
injury and has already affected U.S. personnel in Cuba, a spokeswoman
said.
After confirming one government employee had “suffered a medical
incident” in the southern Chinese city, the department deployed a team
to screen employees and family members at its consulate there,
spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement on Wednesday. “As
a result of the screening process so far, the department has sent a
number of individuals for further evaluation and a comprehensive
assessment of their symptoms and findings in the United States,” Nauert
said. “Medical
professionals will continue to conduct full evaluations to determine
the cause of the reported symptoms and whether the findings are
consistent with those noted in previously affected government personnel
or possibly completely unrelated,” she said.
the New York Times reported that the State Department had evacuated at
least two Americans who fell ill after hearing strange noises in China.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on
Thursday that as far as she was aware, the government had not had any
formal communication with U.S. officials on any new cases, and that it
had investigated an initial incident. “At present, there’s been
no discovery of clues or the reason causing the situation the United
States mentioned,” Hua told a regular news briefing in Beijing, adding
that China protected diplomats according to international convention.
"If there’s really a problem then the U.S. side can directly contact
the Chinese side and communicate, and China will continue to
conscientiously investigate and coordinate with a responsible attitude,”
Hua said. Four American members of staff at the U.S. consulate
in Guangzhou referred Reuters to the Beijing embassy press office when
asked about the situation. A U.S. government official there
reiterated that there had been only one confirmed case in China,
announced last month, and the State Department was offering screening to
anyone in the U.S. embassy or consulates in China who requested it.
In addition to the Beijing embassy and Guangzhou consulate, the United
States operates consulates in the mainland Chinese cities of Chengdu,
Shanghai, Shenyang and Wuhan. Last year, 24 U.S. government
employees and family members in Cuba displayed the symptoms, which were
similar to those related to concussion and mild traumatic brain injury,
according to the State Department. The illnesses among the American diplomats stationed in Havana heightened tension between the old Cold War foes. Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo released a statement on Tuesday saying the
department established a task force last month “to direct a multi-agency
response to the unexplained health incidents”. “The precise
nature of the injuries suffered by the affected personnel, and whether a
common cause exists for all cases, has not yet been established,”
Pompeo said.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-usa-illness/number-of-us-diplomats-in-china-hit-by-mystery-illness-state-dept-idUSKCN1J2324" rel="nofollow - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-usa-illness/number-of-us-diplomats-in-china-hit-by-mystery-illness-state-dept-idUSKCN1J2324
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