U.S. better equipped to handle SARS

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is a new disease that originated in southeastern China.

Kevin Gipson, assistant health director of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department, said the respiratory virus was identified quickly in less than a month but it is still a major concern for many health officials.

"This is a concern because it has a fairly high mortality rate around 10 percent and it is spread through droplet spread, respiratory spread but if proper public health intervention is taking place in China, I think they can control it," Gipson said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a suspected SARS case is one in which a person has a "measured temperature greater than 100.4F (greater than 38C); one or more clinical findings of respiratory illness (e.g., cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, or hypoxia)."

One of the most important predictors of the illness is travel.

If a person feels ill within 10 days after traveling to an area with a documented or suspected community transmission of SARS, or if a person has close contact within 10 days with a person known to be a suspected SARS case, a doctor should be contacted.

According to the CDC, areas with documented or suspected community transmission of SARS include: "People's Republic of China (i.e., Mainland China and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region); Hanoi, Vietnam; Singapore; and Toronto, Canada. Close contact is defined as having cared for, having lived with, or having direct contact with respiratory secretions and/or body fluids of a patient known to be suspected SARS case."

Not all suspect cases mean that a person has SARS. A person can be defined as a probable case for SARS after radiographic evidence of pneumonia or respiratory distress syndrome or autopsy findings consistent with respiratory distress syndrome without an identifiable cause.

Gipson said people should not parallel China's problems with the United States. He said the United States is prepared to handle the virus.

"I think because of the money that the federal government invested in bioterrorism preparedness after 9-11 and the subsequent anthrax scares, that we are better equipped to deal with (SARS) in the United States, than, for example, they were in China or Hong Kong."

As China and surrounding countries work to reduce the number of cases, it could be some time before travel warnings are reduced, Gipson said.

"Generally, with these diseases you'll see peaks and plateaus in the number of cases. So when we start seeing those plateaus going down instead of up in the number of cases, then that gives up some indication that (the medical community has) it under control and it's going the right direction," Gipson said.