WHO Warns of Another SARS Outbreak

October 9, 2003

Brussels - The World Health Organisation (WHO) is bracing itself for another Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak and is setting up a rapid reaction centre at its Geneva headquarters, the head of the United Nations agency said.

Dr Lee Jong-Wook, speaking at the European parliament, said it was impossible to be sure how the killer virus would behave in coming months.

"Our working assumption is that SARS will come back," he said.

"If SARS is mixed with the common cold and flu this will cause a lot of problems."

Sars killed more than 700 people and infected over 8 400 this year after first appearing in China last November.

The WHO declared the outbreak over in July. There has been one isolated case in Singapore since then.

Lee said, given the disease had not completed a one-year cycle, it was not known how it would behave in winter.

Developing better diagnostic tests was critical to handling any further outbreak, he added.

Lee warned the world would face many more Sars-like diseases in the 21st century.

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