WHO investigates SARS in south China

cctv.com 01-11-2004 09:52

Members of the World Health Organization made their first site inspection in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province on Saturday. They visited a restaurant where the country's second suspected SARS case worked as a waitress.

The WHO said there was enough evidence to indicate that further laboratory tests should be carried out on the 20-year-old woman.

The provincial government has been urged to send "a full set of samples from the patient" to China's National Reference Laboratories in Beijing and one of the WHO's SARS laboratories.

The five-member WHO team was in Guangzhou to help Chinese investigators find out how the first SARS case of the season was exposed to the virus.

WHO team leader Robert Breiman said, "So far we don't know of any other cases associated with this suspect case which is a very good sign. It's been quite a few days now and none of the contacts have developed any illness so that's a good thing. But we're exploring very closely the environmental exposures that might exist at the restaurant and that's what's still going on now."

Meanwhile, Guangdong Province intensified its campaign to clean streets and wipe out civets plus other potential carriers.

Civets, a local delicacy, were ordered seized from markets and slaughtered after tests suggested a link between them and SARS.

However, WHO officials have urged caution with the slaughter, saying it could destroy medical clues or expose those involved in the cull to the disease.

Editor:Zhang  Source:CCTV.com