WHO: Big SARS outbreak unlikely ( 2004-01-10 00:20) (China Daily by Zhang Feng)
The World Health Organization (WHO) China office said Friday that the second
suspected SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) case reported in south
China's Guangdong Province should be taken seriously, and further laboratory
tests should be performed.
A city worker
sprays chemicals into a manhole as part of a campaign to exterminate pests
such as rats and roaches at a market in Guangzhou, Southern China,
Thursday, Jan. 8, 2004. [AP Photo]
"Working from the incomplete data we have, it seems to us that there is
sufficient evidence to indicate that further laboratory tests should be
performed, and that this case should be taken seriously," the WHO China office
said in a press release Friday night.
A 20-year-old waitress in a local restaurant was diagnosed as a suspected
SARS case on Wednesday evening, and has is now being treated at Guangzhou
Municipal No 8 People's Hospital.
Her situation is now stabilized and she has had no fever symptoms for nearly
10 days, Tang Xiaoping, head of the hospital, said yesterday. All the 100
people that had contact with him have shown no SARS symptoms.
"We still do not have full data (about the results of the tests conducted on
the suspect SARS patient), but have requested it," said the WHO office.
The office said that it has recommended that a full set of samples from the
patient be sent to China's national reference laboratories in Beijing,
and,simultaneously, another setbe sent to one of WHO's International SARS
Reference Laboratory Network facilities, according to the press release.
"As with all SARS-related testing, we must ensure throughout the testing
process that contamination of the samples used in the PCR tests is excluded, and
that any positive findings from the antibody tests have not been the result of
cross-reaction with other corona viruses," said the WHO China office.
As for the possible public panic over a big SARS outbreak in Guangzhou, the
office said that it didn't see a significant public health threat from SARS.
"While the WHO does not want to downplay the seriousness of the situation in
Guangzhou or Guangdong Province or the rest of China, we hasten to point out
that so far there has only been one confirmed case and one suspected case of
SARS this time in a nation of more than 1.3 billion people," it said.
The office added that experience last year showed that the SARS epidemic can
be contained and controlled if cases are quickly identified and isolated, and if
proper infection control measures are maintained in hospitals.
"China's health care system, and much of the rest of the world's, is on high
alert to identify people with SARS-like illnesses. The WHO and China will
continue to closely monitor the situation in Guangdong and across the country.
But for now, we do not see a significant public health threat from SARS," the
office said.
The WHO also gave a high affirmation of Guangdong's handling of the
situation: "Guangdong has done a good job in dealing with these cases
epidemiologically, and is to be commended for the conscientiousness with which
they are dealing with the situation."
WHO seeks SARS origin
A 10-member team comprised of Chinese health authorities and the World Health
Organization (WHO) experts have started a week-long effort to discover the
source of SARS in Guangzhou yesterday.
They will seek potential sources in humans, animals and the environment to
try to link the disease to one confirmed SARS patient who has already been
discharged from a hospital, as well as to a newly suspected case.
"It's the best time for seeking the origin,'' said Xu Ruiheng, deputy
director with the Guangdong Provincial Centre for Disease Control and
Prevention.
The news comes as test results in Hong Kong disclosed that three crew members
of the Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Ltd do not have SARS, a spokeswoman for
the Hospital Authority of the Hong Kong government said on Friday.
The television news crew had upper respiratory infections, including fever,
sore throat and phlegm when they were admitted to isolation wards of Queen Mary
Hospital Tuesday. They had started feeling unwell on December 30 after visiting
a Guangdong hospital and markets selling wildlife.
In Guangdong, WHO officials are asking authorities for more information about
the young woman suspected of having SARS.
"We need more information about the tests they used and the results those
tests generated before we can comment further," said Bob Dietz, a spokesman of
WHO Beijing Office.
All the estimated 100 contacts of the woman are under medical observation and
have shown no SARS symptoms, said Mao Qun'an, spokesman of the Ministry of
Health.
Guandong Government officials have launched a province-wide civet culling
campaign, since the species from the cat family is suspected of carrying the
virus that may cause SARS.
Any person involving the practice of capturing, transporting, selling and
eating the masked palm civets, which is a main suspected source, is subject to a
fine ranging from 10,000 yuan (US$1,204) to 100,000 yuan (US$12,040).
Top officials of the city also have encouraged residents to take measures to
exterminate mice and cockroaches throughout the city.
Some 45 tons of poison used to kill rodents was employed in the Haizhu
district yesterday, mainly at street corners and in houses.
More than 100 dead rodent collection stations were set up in the district.
Experts are working to collect samples where the woman who may be infected
worked.
It used to do a thriving business in the sale of food from wild animals,
including the masked palm civet and snake meat.
It has been closed and a board on its door reads: "business suspended, being
decorated,'' while other restaurants nearby go on as usual.
However, all restaurants have been urged to stop selling wild animal meat.
The Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Forestry has suspended licences related to
any businesses that work with wild animals.
The country now is keeping a high alert level on monitoring and preventing
the possible occurrence of SARS at the time when more than 90 million migrants
are rushing for their hometowns for the Spring Festival which begins on January
22.
In Guangdong, passengers at railway stations, airports and bus stations, are
required to receive infrared temperature checks and fill out health registration
forms.
Passengers by train are required to arrive at the station six hours ahead of
their boarding times for temperature checking.
