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SARS outbreak contained worldwide

Today, the World Health Organization is removing Taiwan, China, from the list of areas with recent local transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Taiwan is the last area to be removed from the list. It has been 20 days, or two consecutive 10-day incubation periods, since the last case on June 15. Based on country surveillance reports, the human chains of SARS virus transmission appear to have been broken everywhere in the world.

However, due to the many questions remaining about SARS and the possibility that cases may have slipped through the surveillance net, WHO warns that continued global vigilance for SARS is crucial for the foreseeable future. The world is not yet SARS-free.

“We do not mark the end of SARS today, but we observe a milestone: the global SARS outbreak has been contained,” said Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization.…