SARS has been 'stopped dead in its tracks'

[tonado]

UN health agency says SARS has been 'stopped dead in its tracks'

Beijing warning remains in effect

 

By Patrick McDowell, Associated Press, 6/17/2003

 

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- The chief of the World Health Organization declared Tuesday that SARS has been "stopped dead in its tracks," but experts said China holds the key to whether it resurfaces.

 

Meanwhile, the U.N. agency lifted a month-old warning to avoid nonessential travel to Taiwan, underscoring claims of success in the global fight against the illness. The only such warning still in effect is for Beijing.

 

Gro Harlem Brundtland, the WHO director-general, told a conference that the world has stopped the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome in the nearly 100 days since international health authorities sounded the first global alert.

 

"We have seen SARS stopped dead in its tracks," Brundtland told more than 1,000 international researchers, officials and health experts meeting in Kuala Lumpur to discuss lessons learned from the outbreak.

 

The spread of the pneumonia-like disease by air travel highlighted the dangers of an infectious outbreak in the globalized age, she said. Nations that fail to make prompt, open disclosures risk their international credibility, she added.

 

Brundtland did not point a finger directly at China, but she was clearly referring to Beijing's initial attempts to downplay its outbreak, which led to a shake-up at its Health Ministry. Brundtland praised China's "change in opinion about what was necessary."

 

Travel advisories have been lifted for several Chinese provinces, but there was no indication when Beijing might be cleared. The capital still has many SARS cases, senior WHO officials said, though they consider the outbreak to be largely contained.

 

David Heymann, WHO executive director on communicable diseases, said the question of a big SARS reappearance depends largely on China, where it originated. Chinese officials acknowledge at least 5,327 probable cases and 346 deaths as of Monday.

 

"China certainly is the key to this outbreak in many respects," Heymann said. "Particularly because China has been able to contain this outbreak."

 

SARS has killed about 800 people and sickened more than 8,400 since first being detected in southern China in November. New cases spiked in March and April, but have plunged in recent weeks.

 

Dr. Paul Gully, director general of Canada's health department, said even heightened surveillance and rapid response mechanisms introduced after SARS broke out in Toronto weren't enough to prevent a second cluster of cases in late May.

 

"It's really apparent that the ember can continue to smolder and the disease recur," Gully told the conference.

 

Gao Qiang, China's vice minister of health, acknowledged that China's initial response to the SARS outbreak was "inadequate." He refused to comment on the travel warning for Beijing, but showed diplomatic goodwill to Taiwan, something rare between the bitter rivals.

 

"I would like to congratulate them, because we are all Chinese," Gao told reporters. "It's good for the recovery of Taiwan's tourism industry and economic development."

 

After mainland China and Hong Kong, Taiwan was hit hardest SARS, racking up 697 cases, including 83 deaths.

 

Taiwan was attending its first WHO event in 30 years. The island's membership has long been blocked by China, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory following a split amid civil war in 1949. Beijing opposes any bid by the self-governing island to join international organizations.

 

Last week, WHO rejected two Taiwanese requests to be dropped from its travel warning list. Some Taiwanese officials suspected that China was trying to pressure WHO to take Beijing and Taiwan off at the same time.

 

"If the travel advisory was not removed, Taiwan's economy could not stand much longer," said Dr. Su Ih-jen, Taiwan's director of disease control.

 

SARS will not be the last unusual disease to strike humans, health officials said. The recent U.S. outbreak of monkeypox should be a warning, said Dr. James Hughes, director for infectious diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

 

Hughes said the prairie dog had been identified as the likely source of the outbreak, probably picking it up from imported animals from Africa. No one has died of the disease since it was detected in the United States last month, but at least 15 people have been infected.

[tonyuab]

very good news.

[Mick]

Good news indeed. Let's hope and pray for the continuing eradication of the disease. I think the article is right, China holds the key at this point.

[tparrent]

Sure seems like WHO is quick to drop everyone but Beijing off the travel advisory list. Toronto came off earlier this week even though they've had cases recently.

 

It's really messed up my travel schedule.

[Guest enight]

Tony! we missed your daily SARS reports very much!

 

welcome back!

[Guest blsqueaky]

Hello Everyone,

 

My 2 cents here. I know that when I was over there, I think that I watched every single live news conference when it was on, and they originated in Beiijing. While watching, I had the same feeling that I was watching one from home here. We were being told what they wanted us to hear. I found this especially true when reporters from CBS, NBC and CNN asked some very pointed questions, and I never did hear a direct answer. The health minister seemed to stir around them, but one question that I remember came from a reporter from Taiwan, and the minister said publicly, they would do everything in their power to help them treat this ugly disease, even allowing them to see how to clean up and many other items. Now this did surprise me, considering how well Beiijing and Taiwan get along.

 

Well there is my 2 cents.

[tonado]

WHO chief warns SARS could reappear; experts say test new drugs now

By Patrick Mcdowell, Associated Press, 6/18/2003 06:18

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Though the spread of SARS has been stopped for now, health experts said Wednesday it was doubtful the disease could ever be completely wiped out, and the chief of the World Health Organization said there is no guarantee it will not reappear.

 

Global experts said that increased awareness of the dangers of new diseases should be directed toward advancing tests on drugs to more quickly curb the next outbreak of SARS or a future unknown killer.

 

Gro Harlem Brundtland, director general of the World Health Organization, and some 1,000 medical researchers, government officials and health experts are already thinking of the next big epidemic as they meet in Kuala Lumpur to share lessons from the SARS crisis.

 

Brundtland told Associated Press Television News in an interview that ''we are many steps ahead of where we were in March'' when the first world alert of the new, pneumonia-like disease was sounded.

 

''In China, as in other places, the disease is on the turn, going down,'' Brundtland said.

 

''In the best case, we can see SARS disappear,'' she said. ''However, we do not know if it can reappear from the animal community and reappear in humanity again.''

 

Severe acute respiratory syndrome is believed to have originated in civet cats and other game animals sold at food markets in southern China, where the first case of what was later identified as SARS was reported last November.

 

The disease has killed about 800 people and sickened more than 8,400 worldwide. China has been worst hit, with more than 5,300 probable cases and at least 346 deaths.

 

New cases spiked in March and April, but have plunged in recent weeks.

 

At a panel discussion at the conference, experts agreed there was a lack of research into SARS, but indications so far are that eliminating the virus wouldn't be possible.

 

Dr. Hume Field, an Australian veterinary expert, said that if initial research are confirmed and animals are found to be the source of SARS in humans, ''eradication is highly improbable'' because the virus will have a permanent reservoir.

 

He said research indicated the coronovirus believed to cause SARS had existed in animals for hundreds of years, and recent behavioral changes was the likely trigger for the jump to humans.

 

''This seems to be an ancient virus,'' he said. ''So I don't think eradication or ... control of the host animal is the issue. The issue is to avoid exposure.''

 

More positively, Dr. Nigel Gay, a WHO consultant on SARS infection patterns, said it appeared possible that the current strain of the virus could be eliminated, but warned that an outside source could start a new outbreak.

 

''Can we eradicate SARS? The sentiment is that it is too early to say, and we need to prepare for the next time around,'' said Dr. Margaret Chan, director of health in Hong Kong who chaired the panel.

 

''How much time do we have? We don't have much, so we need to act fast.''

 

Brundtland told the conference Tuesday that SARS had ''been stopped dead in its tracks'' despite the absence of a vaccine or effective anti-viral drugs, thanks largely to centuries-old containment techniques like quarantine.

 

Separating victims and tracking down their contacts relies entirely on governments quickly sharing information about outbreaks and to ''not try to conceal anything, because it backfires,'' she said.

 

Health officials said that containment now should not lead to complacency.

 

''SARS is under control at this point, but everyone's question is whether it will return?'' said Dr. Ray Arthur, associate director for global health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ''The challenge is are the surveillance and response mechanisms robust enough if this happens?''

[sarah36]

WHO chief warns SARS could reappear; experts say test new drugs now

Exactly. As long as the vaccine is not made out, and there is no chemical to kill those viruse, the virus then stay in the air. People still need to be careful. Dicreasing numbers of patients doesn't mean virus being driven out.

 

 

 

Sarah

[tonado]

China Reports No New SARS Cases, No Deaths

Thu Jun 19, 4:24 AM ET

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - China reported no new confirmed SARS (news - web sites) cases or deaths in the 24 hours to 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Thursday and said the number of sufferers in hospital continued to fall.

 

The Health Ministry said it was the eighth straight day with no new cases in Beijing, which has seen more than any other city and is the only area in the world still subject to a World Health Organization (news - web sites) advisory against travel because of SARS.

 

It said 24 more people had been released from hospitals, but 152 of the remaining 186 SARS patients in care were in Beijing.

 

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has infected 5,326 people in China and killed 347 of them since it first appeared in the southern province of Guangdong last November.