Experts with the World Health Organization (WHO) said the
experiences of south China's Guangdong Province in containing
severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) are valuable and should be
introduced to the rest of China and even the world as soon as
possible.
The province's handling of the epidemic should serve as a "model"
to all, Wolfgang Preiser, a German virologist, told a press
conference here Wednesday. He was one of four WHO experts who have
just concluded an investigation in the SARS-stricken Guangdong,
which borders Hong Kong.
During their six-day mission, the experts met with local health
authorities, medical professionals and experts in the provincial
Centers for Disease Control laboratories and the virology
laboratories of Zhongshan Medical University.
Guangdong's guidelines and checking systems for treatment and
control of SARS should be put into use all over China, said team
leader Meirion R. Evans, a British epidemiologist and clinician. He
added that he was pleased to see the work that has been done.
Preiser described researchers and medical workers in Guangdong as
"knowledgeable" and "capable," who have done a lot of hard work
fighting against SARS and were extremely eager to conduct further
studies.
They pointed out that though it was too early to say that the
outbreak of the disease in Guangdong has been completely
eliminated, the infections in the province were diminishing.
The 1,000 some SARS cases in Guangdong account for a "very, very
low" proportion of the 80 million population of the province, said
James Maguire, an epidemiologist and infection disease specialist
with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
He
said that effective control does not mean eradication, but that
Guangdong has made "huge progress" in containing the disease.
Evans said he was confident that all SARS cases in Guangdong had
been picked up and reported in time. Maguire also said they have
obtained full cooperation from local governments and full access to
detailed information.
The WHO experts appealed to China to enhance international exchange
in the research and prevention of SARS, even though China has just
newly joined the WHO-initiated global networks of laboratory,
epidemiological and clinical studies.
"We encourage Chinese experts to attend international conferences
to present their results and publish articles in medical journals,"
said Evans, so that all the information on SARS could be
shared.
(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2003)