SARS suspects 'must be found'
From correspondents in Kuala Lumpur
AFP
April 26, 2003
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EVERYONE infected with SARS and anyone they have been in contact with must be found to contain the explosive epidemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned today.

"We cannot afford to miss a single person," said WHO regional director Shigeru Omi at a meeting of East Asian health ministers and international experts on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis.

The meeting in Malaysia's capital is a prelude to an emergency regional summit on Tuesday in Bangkok aimed at forging a united front against the disease which has left 281 dead out of more than 4,800 cases worldwide, mostly in East Asia.

"We are at a crossroads. What we decide today and at the heads of state meeting on Tuesday will determine the future course of this outbreak," Omi said.

"We must be absolutely relentless in our search for every possible SARS case. We must use every weapon at our disposal. The world is watching us."

The disease erupted in southern China in November but was recognised as a major health threat only last month.

In the six weeks since the WHO issued a global health alert on March 12, the disease has caused widespread panic and economic disruption in East Asia and severely affected countries as far as Canada.

Omi noted that although the number of SARS cases and deaths was not large in comparison with those caused by some other diseases, the epidemic poses an "unprecedented" threat, and has three special characteristics.

"First this virus has already demonstrated its explosive power to cause sudden outbreaks in a large number of countries," he said.

"In some countries schools and offices are being closed, international travel has been dramatically reduced, tourism has almost disappeared and normal life has been seriously disrupted," he said.

The second characteristic is the particularly severe impact on health workers, who constitute the largest group of cases.

"This is a major concern since this means that our health systems are under threat, undermining our ability to fight the outbreak," he said.

And there is the urgency to track down all SARS cases.

"Although this is a public health problem that affects large groups of people, we have to reach each and every contact and suspected case if we are to stop the outbreak from spreading," Omi said.

Omi said there had been many encouraging developments in the six weeks since the WHO issued a global alert.

"However, despite our significant achievements, the epidemic is spreading to more countries every week and countries with SARS cases are experiencing great difficulty in containing the epidemic," he said.

Agence France-Presse

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