WHO expert in China to help SARS probe ( 2003-12-29 14:01) (Agencies)
A World Health Organization expert arrived in Beijing on Monday to help
China find out whether the first suspected SARS patient in the Chinese
mainland in half a year has the killer virus.
A woman wears a
protective mask as she talks on a mobile phone while waiting for her
relatives from Guangzhou at Hong Kong's train terminal December 28, 2003.
Hong Kong stepped up health checks on travelers from Guangdong
province after the government said a man in Guangzhou had been admitted to
the hospital with symptoms of the deadly SARS disease.
[Reuters]
Another joint team of WHO and health ministry experts was to head to the
southern province of Guangdong to aid testing on the 32-year-old television
producer, whose temperature was normal and who appeared to be doing well,
Beijing-based WHO spokesman Roy Wadia said.
A Chinese Ministry of Health official said it would take "several days"
to arrive at a diagnosis.
None of the 42 people quarantined for having been in contact with the patient
has developed a fever or shown other symptoms of the deadly virus, officials
said.
"Up till now, we haven't found any new suspected SARS patients, including
those who had close contact with the suspected SARS patient," one Guangdong
health official said.
If confirmed, the Guangdong case would be the first not linked to laboratory
accidents since the WHO declared the outbreak over in July. Two recent cases in
Singapore and China's Taiwan were linked to accidents in medical research
laboratories.
The Singapore patient has recovered and been discharged and the Taiwan
patient is expected to be released soon.
HEAT TREATMENT
News of China's suspected SARS case comes just over three weeks before the
start of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday when millions of people in China and
across East and Southeast Asia travel to visit relatives.
Singapore has tightened health checks on travelers from southern China.
Passengers stepping off planes from Guangzhou have their temperature checked by
thermal image scanners before entering the island states airport.
"All arriving passengers are screened for their temperature at the arrival
hall, but passengers from Guangzhou have their temperature checked at the
aerobridge," said Albert Tjoeng, a spokesman at the Civil Aviation Authority of
Singapore.
Despite a battery of tests, Chinese doctors and laboratory workers have yet
to make a final diagnosis on the man, who was first diagnosed with pneumonia in
his right lower lung on December 16.
"The tests have been so confusing," said Wadia. "There's been some positives,
some negatives and the positives come from a sort of test group that has a high
number of false positives.
"That's why it's important that we get the samples tested independently as
well, because the more testing that is done by different sources, the less the
statistical margin of error."
But it was not yet clear when the WHO specialist would travel to Guangdong,
Wadia said. The expert had been invited by the Chinese government to sift
through data collected so far on the suspected patient and observe ongoing
testing.
The Xinhua News Agency said life in the provincial capital Guangzhou,
where the suspected SARS patient had been hospitalized, was normal.
In Beijing, no one was seen wearing protective masks, de rigeur when the SARS
spread was at its peak.
Thirty-two health workers who had been in contact with the suspected patient
were among those quarantined.
"That they've identified the contacts within a relatively short time is
pretty encouraging because it shows that the system that was put into place does
seem to be working," said Wadia.
Health experts around the world have on the lookout for a resurgence of SARS
since the start of winter in the northern hemisphere.
This time around, Wadia said the WHO was "absolutely satisfied" with the
Chinese government's willingness to share information. The WHO was meeting daily
with the Ministry of Health and had received updates as the investigation
progressed.
