Fourteen people killed in ammunition depot destruction in Baghdad

Asian countries to fight SARS, WHO holds out vaccine hope

Kuala Lumpur,Saturday, April 26, 2003: Health Ministers from Southeast and North Asian countries severly affected by SARS today agreed to have stringent pre-departure checks and mandatory health declarations for all travellers to contain a virus which has so far killed 291 people worldwide.

A senior World Health Organisation (WHO) official said a possible vaccine could be identified within months though it could take up to three years before it was ready for mass use. "WHO is arranging a meeting in the next week or so to bring together world experts on vaccine development partially because we need to get the process moving now," said Mark Salter of WHO's Global Alert and Response unit in Geneva.

"A 'candidate' vaccine may be available within months but there are a lot of processes in terms of safety which need to be gone through before the vaccine can be used on human beings," he told reporters.

Apart from the departure checks and health cards, the Kuala Lumpur meeting agreed that airlines should make provisions to isolate anyone developing SARS symptoms of fever, sore throat, cough and cold during a flight and ensure planes are routinely disinfected.

Governments were also called on to set up SARS task forces and designate a contact and hotline to share information with each other. All sides will swap ideas on best practices for prevention and treatment, and information on the movements of SARS sufferers and who they came in contact would be shared promptly. Anyone who came in contact with a sufferer should be monitored for signs of illness. -keralamonitor.com