WHO warns of Sars 'false alarms'

222UID：153179

WHO warns of Sars 'false alarms'


The WHO says the new suspected cases are isolated, not part of a cluster
The World Health Organization has warned that fear of the deadly Sars virus is causing false alarms in China.
The news comes as Chinese media reported that a patient suspected of having Sars in the southern city of Shenzhen in fact has pneumonia.

WHO spokesman Bob Dietz told the Associated Press it was still difficult to test for Sars and people just with colds or a fever could be misdiagnosed.

China confirmed its first new case of Sars in months earlier this month.

Healthcare 'burden'

The 32-year-old man, from Guangdong province, has since recovered.

Two more suspected cases have also emerged in the province - a 20-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man, both of whom are under medical observation in hospital and reported to be in a stable condition.

Mr Dietz said that there were delays in reporting Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) cases and "wary classifications" of possible cases because there was no "reliable, timely" test for the disease.

He also warned against false alarms, which could overburden the health care system in south China if anyone who walks into a hospital with a fever is quarantined immediately.

"[It's a problem] when the cold season accelerates and you can't distinguish between other pneumonias or other respiratory disease and Sars," he told AP.

'Isolated cases'

The WHO describes the new suspected cases as isolated ones, rather than part of a cluster.


Thousands of civet cats have been killed after suspected links to Sars
But BBC correspondent Louisa Lim says there are still signs of growing unease, with local authorities urging people not to panic.

The authorities in Guangdong had ordered the culling of all animals that were suspected of carrying the Sars virus by 10 January.

Thousands of civet cats have been killed, mostly by drowning, electrocution and incineration, after researchers found links between the strain of the first Sars case and civets.

The cull was extended to badgers, raccoon dogs and other animals served as local delicacies.

Sars spread from Asia as far as South Africa and Canada, killing about 800 people worldwide and infecting at least 8,400 from around November 2002 onwards.

danahUID：144289

There are some reports that some authorities had begun to suspect that wether the so-called disaster--SARS was definitely the same as what most people had considered or not!
It seems that more and more people had begun to reconsider that maybe the SARS is not the same as what people thought,maybe it is just another kind of pneumonias that most people haven't known about!