Stressing that the best defence is not exclusion but rather good management, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today issued guidelines for mass gatherings or hosting of persons arriving from areas heavily impacted by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
WHO said the enormous amount of information now available on SARS, and the increasing awareness of the general public of the disease, may have led to extreme preventative behaviour such as the wearing of masks and the exclusion of people coming from areas with recent local transmission.
Only persons with symptoms are contagious and can transmit the disease through close contact, the agency reiterated. Close contact means having cared for, lived with, or had direct contact with respiratory secretions or body fluids of a suspect or probable case of SARS.
A person who is symptom-free and has not been in close contact with a suspected SARS patient may freely be welcomed to mass gatherings or foreign countries without any other measures, the agency recommended. It also said the wearing of masks by healthy persons who are travelling from an area with recent local transmission of SARS is not advised.
People from high-risk zones should remain vigilant, WHO cautioned, and if symptoms develop within 10 days of arrival they are advised to immediately seek medical attention. A person who has had, or suspects, close contact with someone who might have had SARS over the last 10 days should not leave their country but immediately contact their national health authorities.
However, if the person has already left their country, it is critical to contact the medical service of the host country upon arrival and be placed under active surveillance for 10 days after the date of contact with a case.
WHO said a person who develops symptoms within 10 days of arrival in the hosting country - including sudden fever above 38 degrees C, dry cough, shortness of breath, and/or difficulty in breathing - should not leave their room. They should call health professionals to ensure that proper isolation can be carried out according to the standardized procedures of the hosting country.
As of today, a cumulative total of 7,699 probable cases and 598 deaths have been reported in 29 countries.