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April 18, 2003

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"U.S. Reclassifies SARS Cases, Number Drops"

Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com) (04/17/03); Fox, Maggie

For the past several weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

(CDC) has been using a broader definition of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) than other nations, so as to identify anyone who could spread the virus, but CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding says that the classification was confusing people.  The new classification has lowered the number of probable cases from 208 to 35, and Gerberding says that a new test will help determine who actually has the virus.  Part of the problem was the uncertainty about SARS' cause, but now the CDC will define probable cases as patients who developed pneumonia, and suspected cases as patients with fever, cough, and recent travel to infected parts of Asia or contact with a suspected patient.  Both U.S. officials and the World Health Organization say that if China had been more open from the start, SARS could have been contained.

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