A World Health Organization (WHO) official said in Beijing
Wednesday that WHO believes China's anti-SARS system is now strong
enough to prevent a big SARS outbreak.
"The system is much stronger than it was and even if we were to
see some sporadic cases, we believe the system is strong enough to
prevent a big outbreak like we saw at the beginning of 2003," Julie
Hall, SARS team leader of the WHO China Office, told Xinhua.
She said WHO could see the government was committed and aware,
and "it is working extremely hard trying to get a diagnosis on the
case and to ensure that all precautionary measures have been put in
place."
"The Guangdong case was detected and reported very early, and it
was reported promptly to the WHO and responses have been quick in
terms of isolating the patient, the contact tracing and other
investigations," Hall said.
"It's very important that the laboratory findings are confirmed
and reconfirmed. And we are very grateful for the large amount of
information that the Chinese government has provided to us," she
said.
As for the reason for there being no final diagnosis to the
suspected case, Hall said it was very difficult to diagnose
SARS.
"Unfortunately, we don't have one test that if it came up
positive, we would definitely say this case is SARS. A great number
of tests need to be performed, not just for SARS but for many other
diseases that can cause pneumonia," she said.
"Only when we have the results of all those tests and we have
consistent results from a number of different laboratories, then we
would be able to make a firm diagnosis. But that takes time," she
said.
According to Wednesday's reports from the Chinese Ministry of
Health (MOH), the suspected SARS case in south China remained as a
suspected case only. The patient was in stable situation and no one
who had been in close contact with the patient showed abnormal
symptoms, noted the MOH.
(Xinhua News Agency January 1, 2004)