"SARS outbreak contained worldwide"

“We do not mark the end of SARS today, but we observe a milestone: the global SARS outbreak has been contained,” said Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization. “At this moment, we should all pause and give thanks to scientists, public health and hospital workers who took risks in the face of a new and unknown disease. And, we must remember those frontline workers who died of SARS. Their daily dedication, courage and vigilance averted a global catastrophe.”

From the Guangdong province in China, the SARS virus travelled in humans to 30 countries and areas of the world but it became deeply embedded in just six. In these areas, the pattern of transmission was the same: An imported hospitalized SARS case infected health care workers and other patients; they infected their close contacts and then the disease moved into the larger community. In affected areas approximately 20% of all cases were in health care workers. To date, 8439 people have been affected, and 812 have died from SARS. Now, five months after SARS began its spread around the world, it is close to being driven out of humans.

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“SARS is a warning,” said Dr Brundtland. “SARS pushed even the most advanced public health systems to the breaking point. Those protections held, but just barely. Next time, we may not be so lucky. We have an opportunity now, and we see the need clearly, to rebuild our public health protections. They will be needed for the next global outbreak, if it is SARS or another new infection.”

Preparing for the next outbreak requires restoring and strengthening the public health infrastructure. More epidemiologists and other public health specialists are needed. Better surveillance and response systems must be established which include strong national, regional and global linkages in reporting. And governments need to invest more in hospital infection control.

“SARS is teaching us many lessons,” said Dr Brundtland. “Now we must translate those lessons into action. We may have very little time, and we must use it wisely.”

FRom: https://www.who.int/news/item/05-07-2003-sars-outbreak-contained-worldwide