SARS still on the increase in Taiwan
SARS may still not to be under control in the Far East, with Taiwan reporting a record number of new cases today.
Officials announced 39 probable infections, which takes the overall number up to 383, with at least 52 deaths having resulted from the virus.
And the head of disease control on the island suggested that the latest wave of the outbreak had not yet peaked.
Cases are also continuing to be reported in China although there are now fewer than 50 new cases each day. This has led to speculation that the outbreak is under control on the mainland, although there are suggestions that mild cases are being misdiagnosed by doctors.
Beyond the SARS hotspots there are also growing concerns about the spread of the disease.
Although Europe and the United Sates have so far not reported any deaths from the atypical pneumonia – and very few probable cases – US Health Secretary Tommy Thompson has predicted that even though SARS may now level off it could come back in the autumn and increase the likelihood of western fatalities.
So far Canada is the only country outside Asia to have suffered a significant problem with SARS.
Mr. Thompson, who was in Brussels to attend the European Parliament, claimed that there could be deaths in “all continents” if the virus returned in the winter when the population is at its most vulnerable.
Stopping SARS from becoming endemic is high on the agenda at the World Health Assembly this week, with the WHO’s director general noting that now more than ever public health “depends on cooperation across borders and between institutions”.
Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland’s comments have come after UK health secretary Alan Milburn yesterday called for the WHO to identify and address any gaps in surveillance, capacity and contingency planning around the world in the wake of the SARS outbreak.
Dr. Brundtland noted that there are some key lessons that have already been learned from the SARS outbreak.
– the need to access information about disease outbreaks as soon as they occur, and the need to share that information immediately;
– the need to share successful strategies to contain the disease;
– and the need to ascertain whether control measures are being properly taken by affected countries.
“SARS has been a wake-up call,” she told the delegates in Geneva.
The disease, which was first identified this March, has now killed at least 650 people, and there have been nearly 8,000 probably cases around the world.
But some experts believe that the number of cases could have been far lower if the authorities in China, where the virus is believed to have originated, had acted more quickly and had warned neighbouring countries.
