The number of medical workers contracting SARS is falling gradually in China, but the virus is likely to stay for some time, Chinese medical experts said Saturday in Beijing.

Medical workers made up the largest proportion of clinically confirmed SARS cases in the country, according to Xu Dezhong, an epidemic analyst from the national SARS prevention team.

From Apr. 26 to May 15, medical staff accounted for 15.2 percent of confirmed SARS cases, followed by workers at 10.7 percent, and then students at 10.4 percent.

Xu said international experience showed high rates of contagious diseases spread via droplets among doctors and nurses.

Since early May, the number of SARS cases among medical staff had continued to fall. Medical workers constituted 16.4 percent of the total on the Chinese mainland in the first five days of the month, 12.9 percent in the second five days, and 7.1 percent in the third five days, Xu said.

Meanwhile, the death toll of infected medical workers was very low, accounting for 1.4 percent of the total on the mainland and just a tenth of that of retirees and workers.

Xu attributed the low death toll mainly to the relative youth of medical staff and the benefits of early discovery, early diagnosis and early treatment.

Xu warned that the disease might continue and spread to other areas for some time to come, despite the overall situation improving on a fluctuating basis.

(People's Daily May 18, 2003)