UN Sends Experts to China to Study Origins
of SARS Virus
Katherine Maria
Hong Kong
11 Jul 2003, 12:30 UTC
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A panel of international experts
say Hong Kong's response to the SARS
outbreak this year was good, but there is
always room for improvement. The United
Nations has sent an expert to mainland China
to study the origins of the virus.
Experts say Hong Kong's medical
authorities win high marks for the quality
of the data they collected about Severe
Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.
On Friday, an international panel of
experts investigating the city's handling of
the outbreak released its first findings
after a five-day visit to the territory.
Professor Sian Griffiths of Oxford
University heads the committee. She says
sharing information is crucial to fighting
disease outbreaks.
"I've raised the issue of communication,
communication with mainland China,
communication among the different parts of
the health service and health sector - those
are issues we'll be coming back to," she
said.
Mainland China and Hong Kong accounted
for more than 80 percent of the world's
8,400 cases. Globally, SARS killed about 800
people.
The head of the World Health
Organization, Gro Harlem Brundtland, on
Friday stressed that transparency in
reporting disease outbreaks is key to
controlling future epidemics.
The new disease first emerged in southern
China in November and later spread to Hong
Kong before traveling to more than 20
countries in four months. Accurate data on
China's outbreak was not available for
months after the first cases appeared, and
the information came only after the
international community demanded it.
Dr. Meirion Evans, an epidemiologist on
the committee of experts, says there were
great differences between Hong Kong and
Guangdong's response to SARS.
"In terms of differences between Hong
Kong and Guangdong, one of the things that
impresses us about Hong Kong is the quality
of the information, of the data, on cases of
the disease and contacts," said Dr. Evans.
Scientists say SARS may have come from an
animal. On Friday the United Nations sent
animal science expert Laurie Gleeson to
China to trace the virus's origin.
He says scientists need to know more
about the host of the virus and find out if
many animal species can transmit SARS to
humans. Information about a possible animal
host could be critical to preventing future
outbreaks.
On Thursday the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control lifted a SARS-related travel alert
on Hong Kong, because the city has been free
of the disease for more than 30 days.
Beijing and Taiwan are the only areas left
with CDC travel alerts. |
