Doctors and researchers from Canada, Singapore, the United States, the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong shared their experience in preventing and containing SARS at a Hong Kong symposium Friday evening.
They all stressed the importance of early detection, early isolation and strict infection protection measures for medical staff.
Singapore Minister of Health Arthur Chern said via a televised conference system that Singapore has managed to contain the fast speed of the disease by closing schools on March 29, taking visual scanning of passengers at the airport on March 31 and a series of public health control measures.
Lo Wing Lok from the Hong Kong Medical Association said Hong Kong's designating of SARS hospitals, imposing of visitor restriction and 10 days of home confinement for close contracts of confirmed cases, and body temperature measuring for all out-bound and in-bound passengers have helped contain the further spread of the disease.
He said the control measures include the breaking of transmission cycle by early detection, reducing imported cases by advising residents not to travel to the affected areas and imposing thermal scanning as well as the medical staff's taking of more effective preventative measures.
Tracee Tradwell from the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said she appreciated the credible efforts and experience of the Asian countries in their fight against SARS.
She said the United States established an Emergency Operation Center on March 14 to curb the possible spread of the disease in the country. The priority of the center is to rapidly identify the suspected cases, control potential secondary spreading, facilitate discovery of the etiologic agents and understand transmission ways in an effort to stop further spread.
Karen Green from Mount Sinai Hospital attached to University of Toronto, who is recovering from SARS, gave detailed preventive measures via televised conference system including wearing suitable N95 masks to prevent adjustment by hands and ensuring hair is tied in a cap and removing double layers of gloves after leaving the wards.
Professor Zhong Nanshan from Guangzhou Medical College gave his experience of treatment of SARS patients by high dose of corticosterior, together with traditional Chinese medicine, which has proved to be quite effective.
Zhong claimed that the number of SARS cases have declined in Guangdong and he hoped that Hong Kong's condition would become stabilized soon.
(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2003)
