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WHO ready for new health threats
GENEVA, Switzerland (CNN) -- The World Health Organization has announced new measures to respond to health threats in the wake of the global SARS outbreak. The resolution -- which includes plans for on-the-spot investigations, enhanced communications, and broader sources of reporting -- was agreed on at the annual meeting of the organization. "This is an extremely significant step for international public health," WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland said of the resolution. "SARS has shown us the size of the challenges we face. These new measures will help us respond even more effectively to the next public health threat," Brundtland said. As of Wednesday the WHO reported a total of 8,240 probable SARS cases with 745 deaths in 28 countries. SARS was first identified as a new disease in March. Canadian officials announced two more deaths from SARS in Toronto Wednesday, bringing the total in Canada to 29. The deaths came as officials announced an increase in the number of cases in the newest outbreak to 34, up two from the day before. Ontario's commissioner for public health, Dr. Colin D'Cunha, said that about 5,100 people are under quarantine. "This is still a disease of health care workers and close household contacts," D'Cunha said. Unlike isolation, which applies to those with SARS symptoms, quarantine is for people without symptoms who have come into contact with SARS sufferers. A Toronto area high school has been shut down and the government has asked the staff and students to go into voluntary isolation. Canada has the largest number of SARS cases outside Asia and a group of medical professionals has just returned to Toronto from a trip to SARS-stricken Asia. "We wanted to gain their impressions about managing SARS," Dr. James Young told reporters on his return. "We also hoped to impart some of our experience, and they were certainly very interested in anything we could tell them." The trip took the group to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China, which have been struck by some of the worst and largest SARS outbreaks. Among the group's findings was that the disease is an especially difficult and stubborn one to control in all settings, especially health care facilities where close contact with sick patients leads to infection in staff and other patients. BreakthroughIn Hong Kong meanwhile, researchers say they have begun developing a vaccine for SARS, after tests revealed identical strains of the virus in animals. Scientists say antibodies found in workers who handled exotic animals at a food market in South China supports their theory the SARS virus jumped from animals to humans. (Evidence supports animal theory) Most of the SARS cases have been reported in mainland China.
While SARS seems to be ebbing in many parts of Asia, Russia confirmed its first SARS case on Wednesday, a 25-year-old man who lives in a town bordering China. (First for Russia) Taiwan reported 50 new probable cases of SARS Thursday, including 40 patients who were reclassified from suspect to probable infections, Reuters reported. No deaths were reported in Thursday in Taiwan, the third-hardest hit area in the world. The WHO says it is optimistic the situation will improve in coming days. The global health group says Taipei's anti-SARS measures, including information campaigns, are starting to bear fruit. The island's hospitals have been placed under enormous strain by the disease, and so far three top officials have quit over their handling of SARS. China has been reporting falling numbers of new cases, announcing its lowest rise of just four infections on Wednesday, though the WHO says it is too early to declare China's outbreak under control. Four people also died in mainland China.
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