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June 02, 2003

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Health Officials Fighting SARS Are Encouraged by Fewer Cases”

Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com) (06/02/03) P. B5; Cherney, Elena; Chang, Leslie

Toronto health officials say that the number of new severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases dropped over the weekend and that they are encouraged by the change.  Officials there also closed most of a second hospital so they could investigate another possible SARS cluster. Singapore has been declared SARS-free, with praise coming from the World Health Organization for its handling of the outbreak, and while there have been seven more SARS deaths in Hong Kong, the disease continues to abate in Asia overall.  Chinese Deputy Minister of Health Gao Qiang says that SARS is being controlled there and that it has not spread into the countryside; he also denied that the Chinese government had hidden the extent of the outbreak.  Canada reported 10 new probable cases over the weekend, for a total of 58 since May 22, and two more deaths, and officials are looking into five deaths at Scarborough Centenary Hospital.  Health Canada and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working together to try to find out what triggered infections at North York General Hospital.