Sunday's announcement that the outbreak of the pig-borne bacterium Streptococcus suis in Sichuan Province has been brought under control marks a temporary success in the nation's fight against the deadly disease.

Thirty-eight human lives have been lost out of 204 cases to date. The disease has also caused material and financial losses as the authorities battled to contain its spread.

But although losses are hard to bear, at least the disease was confined to a single province, and has not triggered a major crisis.

The bacterial disease was a terrifying reminder of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic that killed 347 people two years ago.

The outbreak of disease in Sichuan two months ago was initially equally as serious as the SARS epidemic. Patients died soon after coming into contact with sick or dead pigs, or handling pork infected with the bacterium.

Thanks to the prompt response from the public and relevant government departments, effective containment measures were put in place.

In late June the first batch of patients were hospitalized. Once the disease was identified as having the potential to cause a serious epidemic, it was reported to the local municipal health department.

Both central and local authorities have given high priority to the investigation and containment of the outbreak.

The State health authorities quickly dispatched investigation teams to Sichuan. The central government has ordered local officials across the country to tighten supervision of pork markets and banned butchering, transport and sales of dead or sick pigs to prevent the disease from spreading.

Some negligent officials were sacked for failing to take proper action to prevent the spread of the public health menace.

The World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have been kept up to date, being informed of new developments. The Ministry of Health started to release detailed information to the media on a regular basis to allay public fears.

A timely response and thorough disclosure of the truth to the public paid off. Lives were saved and social stability was maintained.

We are pleased we have not repeated the mistakes in handling the SARS epidemic two years ago, when a slow reaction and selective coverage worsened rather than improved the situation.

In contrast, this time, as the central government reshuffled local bureaucrats and unreservedly released information, the situation was soon under effective control.

The SARS nightmare is history along with the old closed-door methods.

Although seemingly minor compared with SARS, the Sichuan outbreak could still have led to a major public crisis if proper action had not been taken.

Policy-makers learnt a huge amount during SARS and have shown they can take heed of these lessons by adopting a more pragmatic and open working style when approaching major public incidents.

(China Daily August 23, 2005)