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| Symposium on SARS ends in Beijing |
| CCTV.COM 2003-06-05 09:06:10 |
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The two－day symposium of ASEAN countries plus China, Japan and Republic of Korea, or ROK, has concluded in Beijing. Medical experts and health officials from the Asia－Pacific expressed confidence to beat SARS, but they admitted there are still too many unknowns.
The two－day symposium has seen medical experts and health officials discussing the origin, diagnosis and treatment of the highly contagious deadly disease.
And the questions outnumber the answers. At the closing ceremony, China's leading epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan said much remains unknown about the virus.
"What the original sources is still unknown. Though the virus carried by animal is 99.6 percent , we still don't know where it is coming from," said Zhong Nanshan.
Many also believe with the coming of summer, Singapore, China's Guangdong Province, and the Hong Kong SAR face the challenge of a possible relapse.
Another problem is the many different viewpoints and early research results are all clinically based and lack scientific data.
"What we learned from the experience here and scientific base is very important to the future because I think we would be facing another emerging disease something like SARS," said H. Syahrizal Syarif, Indonesian doctor.
The experts are calling for the creation of a global information database to enhance exchange of information on contagious diseases such as SARS.
Participants included health officials and medical workers from the ASEAN countries, Japan, ROK and the World Health Organization, as well as from Mongolia, the US, Britain, France and Canada.
The symposium has provided an important platform for medical experts from around the world to get together to brainstorm and explore new ways of combating SARS. The end of the symposium marks the beginning of a new level of global co－operation in the fight against the deadly virus.
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Editor: Han Ling CCTV.com
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