China addressing SARS reoccurrence in clear-headed way

The highly contagious SARS, which swept many areas of China earlier last year and caused 349 deaths on its mainland and another 299 in Hong Kong, has recently staged a comeback that has encountered a sober and sensible attitude among the governments and the people alike.

Five confirmed SARS cases and four suspected cases have so far been reported in China, -- three confirmed and four suspected in Beijing and two confirmed in Anhui Province, east China. Of them, one died on April 19 in Anhui and the remaining patients have been hospitalized for medical treatment.

What astounded the Chinese society most when SARS broke out last year was the absence of an efficient emergency mechanism in the nation's public health regime.

One year later, such a mechanism has been built with huge inputof capital and human resources. Health authorities have classified emergency health incidents into ordinary, serious and extremely serious ones, and government departments at all levels have arranged detailed schemes to counteract different occurrences.

China's addressing of this round of SARS has featured prompt response, fluent information flow and resolute control, experts believe.

When a SARS suspect case was confirmed on April 22, the Ministry of Health immediately announced the information to the world, held a national tele-conference to deploy measures against the serious infectious disease and reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) about the case. On the same day, the "zero" report mechanism on SARS was resumed to deliver daily reporting even if no cases are reported.

Meanwhile, strict epidemiological investigations were conductedin Beijing the same day. It took a few hours for the investigatorsto gather the detailed information about more than 100 people who had had close contact with the 20-year-old female patient, surnamed Li.

All this was conducted in an orderly way, the experts say.

The initial judgment on contagious sources and chains of the SARS cases has won the nation initiative in its counteraction against the disease.

On April 23, the Virus Disease Control Institute of the Chinese Center of Disease Prevention and Control, whose labs were believed to be the sources of the SARS contagion, was isolated, and the related staff were put under medical observation. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Sciences and Technology reiterated the importance of related regulations on bio-safety labs.

Two days later, five joint inspection teams were dispatched to Beijing, Guangdong and Hubei to examine the security of major bio-safety labs with projects on the state list.

In Beijing and Hefei, capital city of Anhui Province, SARS detection has been arranged at airports, railway stations, long-distance bus stations and related trains and buses were disinfected. Hospitals and medical care centers in the two cities have intensified screening and monitoring of patients who developed fever or had respiratory symptoms and started reporting pneumonia cases and deaths with causes undefined.

Round-the-clock hotlines have been launched to provide SARS-related consulting services. In Hefei, 10 emergency teams have been deployed.

Besides the governments' orderly efforts to contain SARS, the common people have taken a sober and scientific attitude towards the reoccurrence of the disease, with no over-reaction reported.

"Now China has had experience against SARS and it is unnecessary to fall into panic," a Mr. Li said, when he was queuing for a train ticket at the Beijing Western Railway Station.

"If we were in a panic, the ensuing losses would be bigger than those brought about by the SARS itself," he added.

Living in Hefei and with investment in the city, Hirota Tsuneo,vice general manager of an excavator company under the Japan-based Hitachi, said that this round of SARS had not affected his normal daily work and that he trusted the Chinese government's capability of preventing the disease from spreading wide.

According to the WHO, the coming 20 days will be crucial for development of this round of SARS on the Chinese mainland.

"There is no reason to expect that China will not be able to contain this round of SARS just as it did the small outbreak in Guangdong in December and January," said Bob Dietz, press officer of the WHO China Office.

Source: Xinhua