WHO claims SARS crisis is in ‘final phase’
The SARS crisis may finally be coming to an end after the World Health Organisation today removed Toronto from its list of areas with recent local transmission of the pneumonia-like disease.
The Canadian city was the only area outside the Far East to experience serious problems with the virus, which has no cure and cannot be treated with conventional medicine.
So far there have been 252 reported cases in Canada, and 192 deaths. The problem was thought to be under control back on May 14 when Toronto was removed from the WHO’s blacklist, but later in the month another case was reported, leading to a second outbreak.
However, because twice the incubation period of SARS – 20 days – since the last case was reported on June 12, the chain of transmission is considered broken.
Taiwan is now the only region in the world still to have experienced recent local transmission of SARS.
“This is a great achievement for public health in what we hope is the final phase of the global emergency,” the WHO executive director for communicable diseases, David Heymann said.
Since it first emerged in Guangdong province, China, last November SARS has infected 8,445 people, killing 812 – most of them in China.
Taiwan should also be removed from the list later this week if no more cases are reported. However, the WHO has warned that it “cannot at present guarantee that SARS has been vanquished” as questions remain about the origins of the coronavirus responsible for it, and its possible seasonal occurrence.
In addition, the organisation is concerned that transmission may be occurring somewhere in the world at such a low level that it defies detection.
