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WHO chief warns SARS could reappear
Kuala Lumpur, June 18: Though the SARS epidemic has been stopped for now, health experts said today it was doubtful the disease could ever be completely wiped out and the chief of the World Health Organisation said there is no guarantee it will not reappear.
Kuala Lumpur, June 18: Though the SARS epidemic has
been stopped for now, health experts said today it was
doubtful the disease could ever be completely wiped out and
the chief of the World Health Organisation said there is no
guarantee it will not reappear.
Global experts said that increased awareness of the
dangers of new diseases should be galvanised to advance tests
on drugs to more quickly curb the next outbreak of SARS or a
future unknown killer.
Gro Harlem Brundtland, who director general, and some 1,000 medical researchers, government officials and health experts were already thinking of the next big epidemic as they met in Kuala Lumpur to share lessons from the SARS crisis. "There will be new threats of this kind, there will be new diseases coming," Brundtland told a news conference at the end of the two-day conference.
In an earlier interview with Associated Press television news, Brundtland said much progress had been made against SARS since March and that the disease, "is on the turn, going down."
"In the best case, we can see SARS disappear," she said. "However, we do not know if it can reappear from the animal community and reappear in humanity again." At a panel discussion at the conference, experts agreed there was a lack of diagnostic tests and qualitative research into SARS, but indications so far are that eliminating the virus wouldn't be possible.
Bureau Report
Gro Harlem Brundtland, who director general, and some 1,000 medical researchers, government officials and health experts were already thinking of the next big epidemic as they met in Kuala Lumpur to share lessons from the SARS crisis. "There will be new threats of this kind, there will be new diseases coming," Brundtland told a news conference at the end of the two-day conference.
In an earlier interview with Associated Press television news, Brundtland said much progress had been made against SARS since March and that the disease, "is on the turn, going down."
"In the best case, we can see SARS disappear," she said. "However, we do not know if it can reappear from the animal community and reappear in humanity again." At a panel discussion at the conference, experts agreed there was a lack of diagnostic tests and qualitative research into SARS, but indications so far are that eliminating the virus wouldn't be possible.
Bureau Report