SARS Research Makes Substantial Achievements in China

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 03, 2003

SARS Research Makes Substantial Achievements in China

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The research center of the nationalSARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) treatment and prevention headquarters has made substantial achievements in epidemiology since its establishment on April 25.

Huang Peitang, the center's vice-director, speaking at a press conference Monday, said that the center predicts that the total number of probable SARS cases in Beijing will be between 2600 and 2800, and the daily number of new cases in early June will averagebelow ten.

Research shows that at 24 degrees centigrade under indoor conditions, the SARS virus can survive about five days in phlegm and dejecta, 10 days in urine, 15 days in blood, and three days onthe surface of filter paper, cotton cloth, wood, soil, metal, plastic and glass, Huang said.

Disinfectants containing chlorine or peroxy-acetic acid used inthe concentration suggested by the Ministry of Health can kill theSARS virus in several minutes, and the ultraviolet radiation emitted at 10 a.m. on a sunny May day in Beijing can kill the virus in three hours, he said, noting that the virus is very sensitive to high temperatures, surviving 4 days at 37 degrees centigrade, 90 minutes at 56 degrees centigrade and 30 minutes at 75 degrees centigrade.

According to current research, recovered SARS patients cannot infect others, those who have had intimate contact with SARS patients have shown no subclinical infection, and the probability that preclinical SARS virus carriers will infect others is very low, Huang said.

The research center has also set up a geographic information system for SARS control and early warning nationwide, which displays temporal and spatial information on suspect and probable SARS patients and on those who have had intimate contact with SARSpatients on an electronic map, Huang said, adding that the system will begin to provide specific information on Beijing within a week.

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