Military

DATE=4/26/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=W-H-O/SARS (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-302601

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The World Health Organization says it is critical that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, known as SARS, be prevented from spreading to developing countries, where it could rage out of control. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports, the W-H-O says the number of SARS cases worldwide has risen to more than 46-hundred, including more than 270 deaths.

TEXT: The head of W-H-O's communicable diseases program, David Heymann, says that, so far, SARS has broken out in countries that have health systems that are reasonably good at detecting and responding to infectious diseases. But other, poorer countries are not so medically fortunate.

/// HEYMANN ACT ///

Our fear is that it will enter into a country where those systems are not so good, a country in sub-Saharan Africa, or a country somewhere in Asia, where the systems are not good to detect it, and it will spread widely, before we know it is occurring. At the same time, we do not yet know what this disease will do in immuno-suppressed populations, such as those with H-I-V. And, there are many of those populations, as you know, in sub-Saharan Africa and in parts of Asia.

/// END ACT ///

People with H-I-V/AIDS have weakened immune systems. Dr. Heymann says it is probable that death rates from SARS would rise in countries where the H-I-V/AIDS infection is widespread because victims would be too weak to fight off the disease.

W-H-O also reports that the death rate from SARS worldwide has risen from four percent to nearly six percent. It says most of those who die are older people with pre-existing health conditions.

But it says SARS now appears to be claiming younger and healthier victims. Symptoms of the disease include high fever, dry cough and shortness of breath.

Mike Ryan is coordinator of W-H-O's Global Outbreak Alert Response Network. He says he does not know if SARS can be eradicated. However, he says at least 23 of the countries where the disease has been detected have done a good job in containing the illness. He also says active transmission is continuing in only one or two places.

/// RYAN ACT ///

Certainly, in a country like China, with a very large population, there is a possibility that disease can become established and remain in human populations. But, we do have an opportunity, we have an opportunity to break the cycle of transmission in this disease. We have an opportunity to put this disease back in the box. But we must take this opportunity now, and that is why W-H-O has been taking comprehensive measures to control the disease, and is working on such a global collaboration to do this. History will tell whether or not we will be successful.

/// END ACT ///

The World Health Organization has issued several travel warnings in an effort to stop the spread of SARS around the world. The health agency recommends that visitors postpone non-essential travel to Hong Kong, Beijing, Guongdong and Shanzi provinces in China, and Toronto, Canada. (Signed)

NEB/LS/ALW/TW