New SARS case in China does not indicate new transmission – UN agency

A new probable case of SARS has been reported in China’s Guangdong Province, which was removed from the list of areas with recent local transmission of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome on 13 June, but the United Nations health agency said it was a reclassification of a suspect case and did not indicate a new transmission.

It was the first new case since 17 May to be reported in Guangdong, where SARS first emerged last November. The case had previously been classified as a suspect case and, according to UN World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, was placed in isolation on 3 June.

Stressing that the reclassification should not be taken as an indication that local transmission has occurred, WHO said the most likely explanation was that the case, with its onset in early June, will be linked to a chain of transmission that was subsequently broken.

This retrospective reporting of a case newly classified as a “probable,” does not constitute a reason for any change in the status of Guangdong, the agency said.

As of 25 June, there have been 8,460 cases of SARS with 808 deaths, the majority of them in China with 5,327 cases and 348 deaths.