China on alert against SARS resurgence

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 16, 2003

China on alert against SARS resurgence

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Deng Xiuqian, 54, a rural doctor from Xinxing county in western Guangdong province, traveled four hours by bus to the city of Guangzhou to watch three VCDs on how to prevent and treat severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

"The county health bureau distributed the VCDs to me several days back, but I can't watch them because I don't have a VCD player at home. Yet I must learn the skills first and teach my fellow villagers," said Deng.

She made the journey despite a survey carried out in nine Chinese cities which showed that 70 percent of people do not believe SARS will make a comeback in autumn or winter this year.

All sectors of society in China have been put on high alert against SARS since Sept. 9 when a new SARS case was diagnosed in Singapore. Tens of thousands of medical and scientific workers are getting prepared to deal with a possible resurgence of the potentially fatal disease.

A symposium on SARS, the largest of the kind, was held in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, attended by more than 800 specialists.

Addressing the symposium, Ni Daxin, a prestigious epidemiologist with the China Diseases Control Center, said: "It is an infectious disease and another outbreak is likely. We must be well prepared for and be on guard against the spread of SARS."

The scientist's vigilance is justified. Of the world's 8,422 reported SARS cases this year, 7,747 were found in China, including those in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and globally 919 people died of SARS, of whom, 829 were in China.

SARS has seriously hurt China and the world economy. To date, China has spent five billion yuan (over 600 million US dollars) on SARS prevention and control, but the economic losses incurred are several times that.

If there is another outbreak of SARS epidemic in China, the blow to the country will be much harder than previously, observers say.

Participants to the symposium reached a consensus: their priority was to ring the warning bells against SARS. Xu Ruiheng, head of the Guangdong Provincial Diseases Prevention and Control Center, said: "Prevention is most essential, especially in the vast rural areas."

Deng Xiuqian, the rural doctor, who has attended four training courses sponsored by the government, also thinks her job is vital. Apart from operating her own clinic in the village, Deng is also held responsible for ensuring that children from nearby villages are vaccinated at the township hospital.

"The weather is getting colder. We are told patients with fevers should be sent to designated hospitals if common treatment does not work, and we are also requested to report to the higher authorities," she said.

In accordance with stipulations in the Detail Outlines on Prevention and Treatment of SARS from Guangdong Provincial Health Sector for 2003 and 2004, the health and quarantine station of Xinxing county is required to relay Deng's report to the provincial Disease Prevention and Control Center within two hours.

The Guangdong Provincial Government started in July to allocate500 million yuan (60.24 million US dollars) for reconstruction of the provincial Disease Prevention and Control Center and 440 million yuan (53 million US dollars) to upgrade similar establishments at lower levels such as those in cities and counties.

Meanwhile, 158 hospitals in Guangdong, which was one of the worst hit areas this spring, have been designated SARS hospitals. The province has also launched a training program to train health workers on how to prevent and treat SARS. By late July, 440,000 health workers had received training and the program would run until October.

Drills will be conducted across the province before the end of the month to examine the unified command system, the emergency disease information reporting system, the disease prevention and control system, and the capacity of the emergency treatment system.

Health authorities from Hong Kong and neighboring Guangdong have agreed to inform each other of the spread of infectious diseases in their regions once a month.

Meanwhile, the most recent SARS case in Singapore has also put Beijing and Shanghai on alert. Peng Jing, deputy head of Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau, said Shanghai had worked out in August a three-year action plan on the construction of a public health network, revised the countermeasures against emergencies, and set up specialized warehouses for storing materials used to control SARS.

"The emergency countermeasures will be put into operation once a SARS case is found," said Peng.

Han Demin, deputy head of Beijing Municipal Health Bureau and chief commander of Beijing SARS medical rescue and treatment center, said measures had been taken to prevent and control the spread of SARS at ports of entry.

All aircraft arriving from Singapore, for instance, are requested to stand in isolation on the tarmac for disinfection, and all crew are required to undergo health checks.

The national capital has also launched a three-level alert system and will soon announce countermeasures in case of SARS emergencies, said Han.

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a request early this month for people who are susceptible to influenza to be vaccinated in order to prevent the possible emergence of non-typical diseases such as SARS from seasonal changes.

WHO experts hold that vaccination against flu will prevent or greatly reduce cases of pneumonia caused by the SARS virus.

Beijing has prepared 1.5 million doses of vaccine, four times the volume for a normal year, for a city-wide vaccination campaign that began on Monday.

"I believe we would be able to act better if SARS could make a comeback this autumn or winter because we fully understand trustworthiness, openness and transparency are the best policies for us all," said Xu Ruiheng, head of Guangdong Provincial Diseases Prevention and Control Center.

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