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<p>WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Offering a dire warning to Congress, a panel of top doctors said Wednesday that the nation should plan for a possible multi-city outbreak of SARS by next winter and that the United States is not ready to handle such an epidemic.</p>

WHO says majority of SARS outbreaks almost over; China still struggling EMMA ROSS Canadian Press Saturday, May 17, 2003 LONDON (AP) - The majority of the SARS outbreaks around the world are coming to an end, the World Health Organization said Saturday. Difficult struggles remain in mainland China, but the epidemic there, although very large, is no more complex than it is in other countries and the government is making great strides, said Mike Ryan, WHO's co-ordinator of the global effort to stop the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus from taking root. Scientists from 16 SARS-struck locations concluded a one-and-a-half...

WHO: Drop in Beijing SARS Cases May Be Due to Misdiagnosis GENEVA, SWITZERLAND -- May 16, 2003 -- China has today reported 39 new probable SARS cases and 4 new deaths, bringing the cumulative total to 5191 probable cases and 275 deaths. Beijing reported 28 probable SARS cases today in the sixth consecutive day that the city has reported less than 50 probable SARS. From the last week of April through 3 May, Beijing was reporting a daily average of more than 100 probable cases. The daily number of new deaths has also declined from a peak of 15, reported...

Sars tests 'unreliable' 15/05/2003 18:42 - (SA) Paris - The current tests for detecting the Sars virus are time-consuming, flawed and should not be considered a tool for combatting the spread of the disease, a UN health expert warned on Thursday. Nations hit by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic are rushing to distribute kits and machines to labs to test samples taken from patients suspected to carry the virus. These are useful but are not the simple and accurate dipstick tests routinely used by doctors, sometimes working in rugged conditions, to quickly check for common diseases and which...

Taiwan SARS Cases Jump, but Officials Think Tally Is Low By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 15 — Even as Taiwan was reporting its biggest one-day jump in probable SARS cases, health officials said today that the outbreak here is being inaccurately counted and is probably much bigger than reported. The outbreak spread today to another major hospital and to an ambulance service, infecting drivers by routes that have not been traced and doctors wearing full infection gear. Taiwan said today that its "probable" cases of severe adult respiratory syndrome increased by 26 to a total of 264,...

<p>BEIJING, China (CNN) --Chinese censors Tuesday blocked the airing of a CNN International interview that criticized the government's handling of the SARS epidemic, despite a government pledge to be more open with information.</p> <p>The seven-minute segment was part of the 30-minute "Insight" program. In it, Newsday reporter Laurie Garrett, author of "The Coming Plague," commented on the decrepit state of China's public health system, and accused the government of ordering doctors to underreport the number of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome.</p>

Health Officials Unable to Pinpoint Source of SARS Infection Katherine Maria Hong Kong 09 May 2003, 11:21 UTC AP Chinese health officials say at least 60 percent of SARS cases in Beijing cannot be traced to the source of infection, raising new concerns on how to contain the outbreak. ..snip.. Liang Wannian, deputy chief of Beijing's Health Administration, said Friday his agency does not know how the majority of new Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome infections in China's capital, Beijing, were contracted. "According to our statistics 40 percent of the newly received SARS patients have been in quarantine or under medical...

SARS may be here to stay say researchers 08/05/2003 - 15:28:14 SARS may be here to stay after making itself at home in the human population, new research suggested today. A study showed that the virus behind Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is not likely to mutate into a less dangerous form in the foreseeable future. Similar viruses that have caused serious influenza epidemics in the past have eventually ceased to be a threat after changing their DNA. But the evidence indicates that SARS is genetically settled and in no hurry to alter form. This is bad news for public health,...

Doctor blames health ministry for SARS By: Binoo Nair May 2, 2003 Dr A R Kench is among the 35 people quarantined at Siddharth Hospital, Pune Pic:SHAILESH MULE Doctor A R Kench, one of the Pune doctors who contracted Sars from the D’Silva family, blames the health ministry. Now quarantined, he complains: “It was waiting to happen. "We asked the authorities many times, since the Sars-positive report arrived on the evening of April 21, to shift the D’Silvas to another hospital, because Siddharth Hospital is just not equipped to tackle Sars.” According to Dr Kench, a team led by Dr...

<p>Vietnam's Quick Action Contained SARS, UN Agency Says (Update2) By Joshua Fellman Geneva, April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnam has contained its outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, the World Health Organization said, crediting the southeast Asian nation with a quick response and openness about the deadly disease's spread.</p>

Beijing locked down as fear spreads in India April 28 2003 The SARS virus has killed 12 more people in Hong Kong and infected 16 others, including two healthcare workers, the territory's government said yesterday. The figures take China's death toll from the disease to 131 and cumulative cases to 1543, the government said in a statement. The deceased were aged between 45 and 91, with eight of them having a history of chronic disease, it said. A further 36 patients have recovered, bringing the total number of discharged patients to 668, the statement added. China has reported another nine...

The Truth About SARS It's deadly, infectious and not going away. What we've learned about the virus and how scared we should be By MICHAEL D. LEMONICK AND ALICE PARK So far, the U.S. has been lucky. It has been nearly six months since the SARS outbreak emerged and more than six weeks since the illness spread from its birthplace in southern China to put the world on alert. Yet with more than 4,800 cases in at least 26 countries to date, a disease that has rocked Asian markets, ruined the tourist trade of an entire region, nearly bankrupted airlines...

Billion SARS cases feared By Mary Papadakis 27Apr03 MORE than one billion people worldwide could be infected by the deadly SARS virus within a year, a leading UK scientist has warned. Dr Patrick Dixon, a specialist in predicting global trends based at London's Development Management School, said SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) had the potential to turn into a pandemic and infect more people than AIDS. The grim prediction comes as a Melbourne infection control specialist warned the virus could destroy Third World countries. Glenys Harrington, who flew to Manila yesterday to join the World Health Organisation's assault on SARS,...

Shanghai SARS Cases a State Secret Despite government pronouncements, reports of disease are still being 'sanitized' BY HANNAH BEECH / SHANGHAI As panic about SARS spreads in hard-hit Beijing and throughout China's underdeveloped interior, Shanghai has so far appeared strangely untouched by the mystery virus. Local health officials in Shanghai on Thursday reported only two confirmed cases and 16 suspected cases, of which two are foreigners. In contrast, Beijing has reported more than 750 confirmed SARS cases. Wary that foreign investment might flee Shanghai the way it has from Hong Kong, central government officials early this week sent a directive...

Beijing Closes Hospital Amid SARS Scare By Joe McDonald Associated Press Writer April 24, 2003 CBN.com – BEIJING (AP) -- China shut down a major hospital in Beijing and put more than 2,000 employees under observation for severe acute respiratory syndrome Thursday, as Hong Kong health experts said the disease may be even deadlier than originally thought. Canadian officials, meanwhile, reacted with anger after the World Health Organization warned travelers against going to Toronto, the worst-infected area outside Asia. As efforts to contain the virus intensified, Singapore was refurbishing a drug rehabilitation camp to hold anyone who violates an order...

Latest Canadian Numbers on SARS OTTAWA, ON -- April 22, 2003 -- As of April 21, 2003, Health Canada has received reports of 316 probable or suspect cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Canada. There have been 14 deaths in Canada. To date, transmission has been limited to specific transmission settings such as households, hospitals and specific community settings. The information contained in this update is based on the information available to Health Canada at this time. The details of the cases to date are as follows: · Ontario is reporting 135 probable and 124 suspect cases. ·...

China, Hong Kong report more SARS deaths REUTERS[ TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2003 07:47:12 PM ] BEIJING: China and Hong Kong reported 10 new deaths from SARS on Tuesday and Beijing tried to stop people from travelling to the vast countryside in a frantic effort to contain the deadly virus. The official Xinhua news agency, quoting Health Ministry data, said the death toll in China -- epicentre of a virus that has killed 236 people and infected nearly 4,300 in 25 countries -- had risen by five to 97. Hong Kong also reported five more deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome...

Microbiologist: SARS now attacking intestines April 23 2003 The deadly SARS virus is now attacking the intestines as well as the respiratory system, a leading Hong Kong microbiologist said yesterday. Speaking on Hong Kong radio station RTHK, Professor Malik Peiris of Hong Kong University said the change might indicate the virus had mutated, as many experts feared. Professor Peiris is one of the microbiologists at the forefront of the Hong Kong research into the SARS virus, which killed another five people in the territory yesterday, bringing the total number of deaths to 99. His comments come amid growing concern that...

German Firm Distributes First SARS Test Worldwide Mon Apr 14,11:52 AM ET Add Science - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Philip Blenkinsop BERLIN (Reuters) - A German biotech company began distributing on Monday what it says is the first commercial test for a respiratory virus that has killed over 140 people and infected more than 3,300 worldwide, ravaging parts of Asia. Hamburg-based Artus GmbH said it had developed the test for the virus causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) with the nearby Bernhard-Nocht-Institute (BNI) for Tropical Medicine in just two weeks and had begun distributing it free. "We have had...

HK Won't Rule Out Seeking China's Help Against SARS 1 hour, 24 minutes ago Add Science - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Tan Ee Lyn HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's hospital chief said on Monday he would not rule out asking Beijing to send doctors to the territory to help fight a deadly respiratory disease as the number of new infections climbed. Hong Kong said seven more people had died from the disease, the highest number reported in a day since its outbreak erupted early in March. Forty more have been infected, including four health care workers, bringing the...