China has know-how to curb SARS

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was likely that a major SARS outbreak in China could be prevented because the country is well prepared to tackle a re-emergence of the disease.

The announcement came as virus samples from a suspected case in the country's south were sent overseas for further testing.

The WHO based its prediction on China's radically raised level of alert and the much more abundant resources spent on curbing the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus, compared with last year when the disease first emerged.

"As long as the system remains strong and we remain vigilant, we should be able to prevent a major outbreak," said Julie Hall, SARS team leader of the WHO China office.

Even if a few cases, or clusters of cases, of SARS were to occur it would be possible to prevent massive spread, she said.

"If the cases are isolated early, it is a disease that is controllable, you can actually break the chain of transmission," she said.

Fears of a return of SARS rose after a 32-year-old television journalist in south China's Guangdong province showed symptoms very similar to those associated with the potentially lethal disease.

Local tests showed he had indeed been infected with SARS, Guangdong health bureau spokesman Feng Shaoming said earlier this week, but the health ministry later said it wanted to carry out further tests.

To this end, the ministry yesterday started shipping samples from the 32-year-old patient to overseas laboratories that form part of a WHO-affiliated network.

"The shipping process has begun," said Hall. "It began this morning."

WHO officials previously said that results from the tests overseas should be expected within a week.

SARS triggered a worldwide health crisis after emerging in Guangdong in November last year, causing 774 deaths and more than 8,000 infections, the vast majority in Asia.

China was the country worst affected by the SARS epidemic, infecting 5,327 people nationwide and killing 349. Medical detectives targeted drains and sewers as they scoured a residential block, a chemist shop and a private home in southern China, searching for where the sickened man's illness was contracted.

The investigation team in Guangdong's provincial capital, Guangzhou, visited a residential block in the city's Panyu district on Wednesday the complex where the patient had been living, Xinhua said.

The experts visited the man's home and a nearby chemist shop, Xinhua said. It said the residential complex's drains, sewers and disinfection procedures were "the key target" of the searches on Wednesday. The team has also visited the suspected SARS patient in Guangzhou No 8 People's Hospital.