No evidence SARS man made

DR MIRTA ROSES Periago, Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) said yesterday the response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) should involve the health sector, population and media. A mechanism must also be in place for information to be shared.

She said globalisation and the prevalence of travel has brought diseases closer especially infectious respiratory diseases like SARS. “There is nothing like close and far with the pattern of travel, if a business person from this country was in Hong Kong that is the closest you can have.” Speaking to the media yesterday after touring the Caribbean Epidemio-logy Centre (CAREC) facility at Federation Park, Dr Roses Periago said countries in the region should look at their Public Health infrastructure and laboratory capacity to deal with the treatment response. This will be complimented by other levels of response from other sectors. “You’re going to pool resources to ensure that full response, not necessarily with your own resources.”

The media also had a critical role to play in disseminating information to individual and communities. Dr Roses Periago said time and opportunity to contain the contagious disease can be lost if people do not report their condition. She said people may think they have the common cold and   try to self medicate. She said a lot depends on individual responsibility and people reporting if they were exposed to SARS and where they have been. She said health personnel should be aware of SARS and where second and third level support can be sought. They should also have infection control measures to protect themselves and their patients.

Dr Roses Periago said the virus is a problem and opportunity. She said trust has been weakened among countries but it can be regained in health because they will have to share information,  seek support and contribute to what others territories are doing. “If there is a weak link everybody loses,” she said. Dr Roses Periago said there has been no evidence to support the view that SARS was man made. However, the potential to acquire new infections is the result of accelerated urbanisation with humans invading more of the environment and coming into contact with other species. “What we do know in microbiology is the jumping from one species to another creates many problems, for many centuries they have adapted to some species but when they jump to another it can be lethal.” A new team from the World Health Organisa-tion is in China tracing the first cases of SARS to seek to determine if doctors in southern China saw people with symptoms before November.