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June 13, 2003

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“WHO Hopeful of an End to SARS Epidemic”

Financial Times (www.ft.com) (06/13/03) P. 9; Cookson, Clive

Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) are urging continued vigilance against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) but have commented positively about the slowing of the outbreak.  Since November, there have been about 8,500 reported SARS cases and 800 related deaths, but now the number of daily cases is down to less than 10 a day worldwide.  The WHO's director for communicable diseases, Dr. David Heymann, said Thursday that China was doing a good job of controlling disease, although WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland was more cautious in her praise and advocated continued vigilance.  Some health experts believe that SARS may flare up seasonally, like the flu, and they plan to be extra careful this fall just to be sure.  Recent studies of SARS have found that its potential to be pandemic can be controlled with strict quarantine procedures.  In addition, scientists at Frankfurt University Medical School report in today's issue of The Lancet that a compound made from licorice root, called glycyrrhizin, can stop the replication of the coronavirus, which causes SARS, in cells.