SARS threat lingers in China
China remains a high-risk area for the potentially lethal SARS virus, although there are signs that the atypical pneumonia is under control in most other areas.
China has just quarantined 10,000 people in the eastern city of Nanjing, in an attempt to clamp down on the disease, which has affected well over 4,000 people and has killed 214.
The capital Beijing has been worst affected by the disease and is effectively under quarantine itself, with roads being blocked and airports closed.
But the Chinese authorities are stressing that 1,400 patients have recovered from SARS, although such figures have been met with scepticism following China’s initial cover-up of the extent of the disease, which may have resulted in the spread of the infection.
However, in Canada – the worst-hit country outside Asia – just one suspected case was reported on Sunday. And the UK was declared a SARS-free area by the WHO last week, after a three-week period with no new reported cases.
Even more encouragingly India was also declared SARS-free: experts had feared that in a developing country with limited healthcare resources the disease could spread rapidly.
But, there are concerns that the disease might be more “stable”, in the words of the WHO, than was first thought.
New research revealed at the weekend suggested that the virus can live for at least 21-days in isolation and can survive for up to four days in “diarrhoeal” human faeces, according to the WHO.
The new study reinforces the need for meticulous personal hygiene in order not to spread infection. However, the research also suggested that traditional disinfectants do decrease, or even eliminate, the infectivity of the virus.
Globally there have been nearly 6,600 cases of SARS and over 460 deaths.
