A leading Chinese flu researcher?Friday urged people to get
flu inoculations this year in view of the "possible'' return of
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
"Flu and SARS share a number of symptoms and therefore there is
a possibility of misdiagnosing flu cases as SARS,'' said Guo
Yuanji, director of the Flu Center under the Chinese Center for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Guo estimated that at least 1,000 people suffering from flu or
flu that has developed into pneumonia have been misdiagnosed as
SARS cases this year in Beijing alone.
Of course, Guo said, such misdiagnosis can be avoided in many
cases as long as hospitals strictly implement flu examinations
along with SARS checks.
According to Guo, although flu can sometimes be diagnosed in as
little as two hours, in many cases it may take as long as two
days.
Guo called "ungrounded'' a wide-spread rumor that flu
inoculations can lead to SARS.
He says that flu inoculations are especially important this year
because there is the possibility of flu spreading in northern
China, which will make things more complicated if SARS returns.
In the past one week, many Chinese regions, such as south
China's Hong Kong and Guangdong
Province, east China's Jiangsu
Province and northeast China's Jilin
Province, have geared up to prevent the reappearance of SARS,
one major aspect of which is flu prevention.
On Thursday, the municipal government of Beijing issued
regulations for a three-level emergency alert to prevent the
reappearance of SARS.
Travelers at the airport are still required to undergo body
temperature checks before boarding.
(China Daily September 13, 2003)