sars

The United Nations health agency declared today that the chain of human-to-human transmission in the latest SARS outbreak in China appeared to have been broken, but warned that serious concerns remained over safety procedures at the institute where research using live and inactivated virus was carried out.

With SARS, bird flu and other diseases linked to animals threatening human epidemics, the United Nations health agency is hosting a three-day meeting of international experts at its Geneva headquarters next week to improve surveillance, avert the occurrence and minimize the impact of such illnesses.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today is sending the first members of an international team to help investigate the source of cases of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) recently reported in Beijing and the eastern province of Anhui, which have now doubled to eight, following a request of China’s Health Ministry.

The United Nations health agency said today the SARS situation in China is considered potentially serious because of the multiple opportunities for exposure by hundreds of potential contacts after four possible cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome - including one death - were reported in the last two days.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today dispatched a team of experts to Guangzhou, China, to investigate a case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

A man in the southern Guangdong Province of China has Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the United Nations lead health agency said today after tests confirmed diagnosis of the disease, which does not appear to be spreading.

Test results carried out on a suspected SARS patient in China remain inconclusive and further examination is needed to see if he is suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the first possible instance of the potentially deadly disease in six months, according to the latest update by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO).

A laboratory expert from the United Nations health agency arrived in Beijing today to help the Chinese authorities probe a suspected case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the first possible instance of the deadly disease in six months in the country, where it has killed some 650 people.

The United Nations lead health agency today urged countries to ensure that correct biosafety procedures are being followed in laboratories after learning that a lab worker in Taiwan, Province of China, had been infected with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

A vaccine for the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) will not be available if an epidemic should recur at the end of the year, but the first clinical trial of a vaccine could begin as early as January 2004, health experts convened by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) have concluded.