Vietnam hosts SARS conference
AMID growing fears that the battle to eradicate SARS is far from won, health experts from across the globe will gather in Hanoi tomorrow to coordinate measures to deal with any recurrence of the deadly virus.
More than 150 delegates are expected to attend the two-day conference, which is being organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Vietnam's Ministry of Health.
Government officials from Belgium, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Italy and most Southeast Asian nations will be among the participants, as will experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Vietnamese Health Minister Tran Thi Trung Chien said the aims of the meeting are to analyse the methods used to contain the recent SARS outbreak and to draw up an action plan to deal with any new transmission of the virus.
"There remains a serious threat that this disease may come back and governments around the world are preparing for the possible return of SARS at the end of this year," she said.
It is vital that these preparations are comprehensive, evidence-based and benefit from the open-sharing of experiences and expertise."
Dr Shigeru Omi, the WHO's regional director for the Western Pacific, and Dr Tim Uyeki, an epidemiologist with the Atlanta-based CDC, are among the speakers who will address the delegates.
The conference coincides with a series of WHO-organized scientific meetings beginning Monday in Geneva to discuss diagnosis methods and clinical trials of potential vaccines.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) emerged in south China's Guangdong province late last year, and quickly spread to become a global menace. It struck down over 8,000 people and left more than 800 dead in 32 countries, with 349 of the fatalities and 5,327 of the infections recorded in China.
The outbreak triggered widespread panic and devastated the region's travel and tourism sectors as people avoided air travel for fear of contracting the disease.
Earlier this month WHO chief Lee Jong-Wook said SARS was likely to stage a comeback in the winter months, a warning echoed by Chinese health officials last week.
"We have not seen even a one-year cycle of this disease, so we don't know how SARS will behave in the autumn, winter or summer," said the South Korean head of the UN agency.
"Clearly we are still suffering from a lack of overall information. But our assumption is that this will come back in one way or another."
Natural transmission of SARS through humans was officially eradicated in June after a huge international effort to contain the virus.
The WHO says any resurgence would likely be through contact with a contaminated wild animal, particularly in Southeast Asia, or via a laboratory researcher studying the disease, such as a recent case in Singapore.
A report published by the CDC on Friday said research indicated that SARS, a member of the coronavirus not previously observed in humans, was suspected of having crossed the species barrier from an animal host to a human being.
Monday's meeting will be opened by Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.
Vietnam was one of the first countries to be infected with the virus, and on April 28 it was the first to be removed from the WHO's list of areas with local transmission of SARS. Five people died from the disease in Vietnam out of 63 infected.
Agence France Presse - October 19, 2003.
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