Health authorities Thursday called
on medical service providers and residents to take all possible
measures to prevent influenza this autumn and winter which may also
see the return of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
The Ministry of Health issued guidelines Thursday, urging the
country's health systems and people to make more efforts in
preventing influenza especially by taking vaccines, said the
ministry's press office.
On October 6, the World Health
Organization (WHO) will issue its annual recommendations for
the composition of influenza vaccines effective against the virus
strains currently circulating in human populations, said a document
issued by the WHO on its website.
The recent global outbreak of SARS has?raised concerns about
the occurrence of respiratory diseases having symptoms similar to
those seen with SARS.
As the recurrence of SARS during the influenza season cannot be
ruled out, health authorities are concerned that cases of influenza
and other respiratory diseases, particularly when they occur as
clusters in healthcare facilities, could raise suspicions of
SARS.
Meanwhile, the WHO will cooperate with the Ministry of Health in
launching a new SARS surveillance system in more than 10 hospitals
in Beijing,
and Guangdong
and Shanxi
provinces, according to Maria Cheng, the WHO spokeswoman in
Beijing.
The ministry confirmed on Wednesday that no SARS case has appeared
on China's mainland since August 16 when the last two SARS patients
were discharged from hospital in Beijing.
In another development, starting this month, all the fever patients
in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, are required to be
isolated in hospitals or at home for further observation for no
less than a week.
The move aims to prevent SARS from spreading in the city during the
coming peak period of flu and other respiratory tract diseases,
Vice-Mayor of Guangzhou Li Zhuobin said Thursday.
(China Daily September 5, 2003)