Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) are poised to
begin work on the prevention and control of severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) in China, officials revealed
yesterday.
Up to half a dozen experts will arrive in Beijing next week to
join four others who have already started working in China.
The experts will be separated into several groups and do
research and investigation work in infection control, epidemiology
and other areas for fighting against the possible outbreak of SARS
as cold weather approaches, said Bob Dietz, a spokesman for the WHO
office in Beijing.
The team of experts will be headed by Julie Hall, who will be
responsible for WHO's SARS research over the next two years, said
Dietz.
The team will work in Beijing and possibly other areas of China
for about three months, and then other experts might be sent to
China according to the need.
The WHO experts will do their investigation and research in
close cooperation with their Chinese counterparts organized by the
Ministry of Health and the Chinese Center for Diseases Control and
Prevention (CDC).
A recent sudden temperature drop in most areas of China has
sparked fears of a possible return of SARS, which was first found
in south China's Guangdong Province last November and infected
5,327 people.
The affliction caused 349 deaths in 24 provinces and regions of
the country.
The WHO has issued a warning from its headquarters in Geneva,
Switzerland, that SARS could reappear in November.
A young researcher was infected with SARS in a laboratory in
Singapore in August.
Officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology and some
experts noted that since the accident in Singapore, necessary
measures for safety have been taken in China's laboratories.
Meanwhile, the country has mobilized to prepare for another
outbreak of SARS as winter approaches.
It was unlikely the SARS virus would die out naturally, and it
could definitely come back, Zeng Guang with the China Disease
Control Center was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
"But the scale of the epidemic depends on the control measures
we take," said Zeng.
Zhong Nanshan, a prominent SARS researcher, agreed the disease
could return this winter. However, with the strict reporting
mechanism and experience from the last crisis, the epidemic would
likely not cause serious damage again, he said. Zhong is an
academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Caught unprepared last spring, authorities have learned to act
quickly before the epidemic can take a hold.
Last Thursday, Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi urged strictly
implementing the daily SARS epidemic reporting system and warned
that people who delay reporting or hiding the true situation would
be severely punished.
The Ministry of Health has restarted its daily public
information releases of the surveillance of SARS since September
19, as it did during the epidemic period.
Up to now, no new suspected or confirmed SARS case has been
reported to the ministry.
North China's Tianjin Port resumed a temperature reporting
system on Sunday. Any passengers through the port with a
temperature above 38 degrees Celsius will be provided medical
observation and reported to relevant authorities.
(China Daily October 14, 2003)