Although severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) infection from
human to human has been interrupted globally, the virus is by no
means eradicated. It may come again in winter, but present in a
different genre, warned the visiting World Health Organization
(WHO) official, Shigeru Omi, in Macao Wednesday.
"This particular disease may not come, but new diseases present
similar symptoms on human beings like SARS may turn up," said the
WHO Western Pacific Regional director, who arrived in Macao Special
Administrative Region (SAR) Monday on a three-day inspection visit
at the invitation of the SAR government on the review work of SARS
control.
Omi called on the whole international community to stay vigilant
against SARS. "But there is no need to be panic. If a new SARS
disease came, the experiences gained would ensure a response better
than what we did before," he said.
Omi is the fourth WHO expert to visit Macao this year, which isa
member of the WHO's West-Pacific Region. He highly praised the
SAR's effective containment of the disease, which broke out in
Macao's neighboring regions of Guangdong and Hong Kong in
April.
Omi concluded four factors which ensured Macao remained a
"safety island" in the epidemic outbreak with just one imported
SARS case found in the SAR.
(Xinhua News Agency?? July 31, 2003)