Disease surveillance centre publishes new SARS advice

Fresh guidelines have been issued for healthcare professionals in the State on how to deal with the threat of SARS (Severe Acute…

Fresh guidelines have been issued for healthcare professionals in the State on how to deal with the threat of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

Their publication by the National Disease Surveillance Centre (NDSC) follow reports of the re-emergence after six months of the potentially fatal virus in China.

A suspected case of SARS was identified in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, according to reports from the region yesterday. They said a 20-year-old waitress suspected of having contracted the virus was admitted to hospital and isolated. Some 48 people close to her have been quarantined.

The news came just as the country's first SARS patient in six months, a 32-year-old television producer, left hospital after making a full recovery.

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Guidelines for managing the threat of SARS here, according to NDSC public health specialist Dr Joan O'Donnell, have been under review for some months.

She said the essential difference between latest draft guidelines from the NDSC and previous guidelines is that the new ones also offer advice on how to be vigilant for SARS even when there is no known outbreak anywhere in the world.

In those instances, she said, clinicians have been advised to look for SARS if a patient presents with unexplained pneumonia and has had a history of travel to a zone where the virus has the potential to re-emerge.

"We want people to be vigilant so no cases will be missed, even when there is no known outbreak," she said.

She added that the guidelines will be updated regularly as new information on the condition emerges.

The virus, which was first recognised as a global threat in March 2003, has killed around 800 people and infected about 8,000.