Sources with the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and
Control (CDC) said Tuesday that World Health Organization (WHO)
teams have arrived in Beijing to assist in the investigation of the
SARS cases that appeared in Beijing and Anhui
Province this month.
WHO spokesman Bob Dietz reported that WHO had dispatched four
teams to China.
He said that one team will help investigate the laboratories at
the CDC, where it is believed that the infections originated.
Another will join in the epidemiological investigations, while the
third assists in ensuring that contamination control in hospitals
is up to par and the fourth visits east China's Anhui Province.
The Ministry of Health reported no new confirmed or suspected
cases of SARS in the 24 hours ending at 10:00 AM Tuesday. However,
two people who had close contact with a SARS patient and are now
under medical observation reported fevers.
Twelve others were removed from medical observation Tuesday.
The SARS patient in Beijing, surnamed Li, has been in relatively
stable condition and has reported a normal temperature for 11
consecutive days, the ministry said.
Beijing's five suspected SARS patients were in Ditan Hospital
for treatment and observation.
A total of about 700 people are now under quarantine in Beijing,
according to Wu Jiang, of the Beijing Center for Disease Prevention
and Control.
The increased number includes those who had contact with the two
people who have now reported fevers, as well as those who had
contact with the confirmed or suspected SARS patients.
The patient in Anhui, surnamed Song, is continuing to recover
but her mother, who helped to care for her, died on April 19. The
mother also had a heart condition.
A total of 146 people known to have had contact with Song were
placed under medical observation, but 36 people have now been
released.
In related news, Hong Kong took preventive actions against SARS
on Monday. The Special Administrative Region's Secretary for
Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong called on government
departments to raise their levels of alertness and
preparedness.
The Health Department of Anhui has called on all laboratories to
strengthen bio-safety practices and take steps to ensure the safety
of laboratory workers.
Experts believe the epidemic might have been caused by a
laboratory infection, since the Anhui patient and one of the
suspected cases in Beijing worked in the same laboratory in
March.
(China Daily April 28, 2004)