A World Health Organization (WHO) representative on Tuesday
suggested China strengthen surveillance and carry on basic control
work such as early isolation to prevent another outbreak of severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Dr. Henk Bekedam, the resident WHO representative in China, told
Xinhua that China made a strong commitment to reinforce its
surveillance system and has been working hard with "quite good"
results achieved.
In the first half of this year, SARS epidemic struck China and
some other nations. The mysterious disease affected a total of
8,437 people worldwide, killing 348 on the Chinese mainland and 813
worldwide by July 11, according to the WHO.
The Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada and Singapore
were the main victimized areas.
"We don't know whether SARS will return this winter," Dr.
Bekedam said, noting that good surveillance, early isolation of
SARS patients and early contact tracing could stem the contagious
disease from another major breakout.
Dr. Bekedam suggested China intensify monitoring in south China,
where the first SARS case had been reported, on the laboratories
which contained the SARS virus and on those having close contact
with wildlife.
The WHO official cited wild animals and laboratories without
adequate safeguard measures as two triggers for the possible
recurrence of SARS.
The most recent SARS case was reported in September by
Singapore, two months after the UN agency announced the virus was
contained worldwide. The WHO said the patient was infected in an
unsafe laboratory.
"The origin of the SARS virus is still not known definitively
and we need a few more years and to do a lot of research," Dr.
Bekedam said.
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(Xinhua News Agency?October 22, 2003)