Chinese medical expert Zhong Nanshan on Wednesday called for further international cooperation in the fight against SARS at the ASEAN, China, Japan and ROK (10+3) High-level Symposium on SARS.

Zhong is an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the Respiratory Disease Research Institute of the No.1 Hospital affiliated to Guangzhou Medical Science College.

Zhong said that international cooperation had made great contributions to the treatment of SARS, noting that it took only three months to map out the genetic sequence of the SARS virus due to the joint efforts made by scientists from a variety of countries.

International cooperation would continue to be important for future vaccine and genetic research, Zhong stressed, adding that each country had advantages in SARS treatment, which are mutually complementary.

China was among the best places where epidemiological researches were conducted, and it would make more contributions in this field, according to him.

The treatment which combines traditional Chinese herbal medicines and Western therapies is one of the topics at the symposium.

Such treatments had proven to be effective in curing the disease, he said, adding that the SARS outbreak had provided a good opportunity for traditional Chinese herbal medicines to play an important role.

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2003)