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People urged not to stigmatise SARS
Experts have urged people not to stigmatise SARS following reports that patients of the disease and their families were being boycotted.
Indian medical experts have urged the people not to stigmatise SARS following reports that patients of the disease and their families were being boycotted.
"It is unfortunate. We should not stigmatise the disease or the patient. The fear is not genuine," S.P. Aggarwal, director general of health services, said at the India International Centre here late Thursday.
There were reports about neighbours boycotting suspected SARS patients in Pune and Kolkata and their families after the patient was discharged from hospital.
The panic stems from the infectious nature of the killer pneumonia. One-third of the people who have died of the disease worldwide were reportedly medical practitioners who were in close contact with patients. Nearly 500 people have died of SARS so far.
Aggarwal said: "There is no problem if the patient has not developed symptoms of SARS 10 days after being discharged from hospital."
"We advise self-quarantine to the patient for 10 days. This is the life of the new corona virus that causes SARS. If the symptom does not reappear in 10 days, it means the virus is dead. Therefore, people can interact after this period."
He, however, could not say whether the SARS virus could re-infect a person after he had recovered from the disease.
V.K. Vijayan, director of the V.P. Chest Institute of the University of Delhi, said: "It is too early to comment on this. It is a new virus that has appeared in November 2002. Scientists are still studying its character."
Vijayan, however, congratulated the scientific community for detecting the SARS virus in just three weeks after the WHO announced an alert in March.
He said: "It took three years to detect the HIV/AIDS virus. But this one was detected in three weeks. It's a great achievement."
The experts clarified that the disease could catch on only if a person had visited affected areas or had been in close contact with a SARS patient.
Aggarwal said: "We are strictly monitoring people coming to India. Even Indian missions abroad are checking people before giving them visas. So there is little possibility of the disease coming to our country. There is no need to panic."
The disease is said to have originated from the Guangdong province of China in November last year and then spread to Singapore, Vietnam and Canada. So far, the disease has affected 25 countries.
Aggarwal said there were just two "probable" patients of SARS in India on Thursday -- one in Chennai and another in Kolkata. They have tested positive in a laboratory examination called RT-PCR test.
Vijayan asked people to take precautions like washing their hands regularly and keeping a cloth in front of the mouth and nose while sneezing or coughing.
"There is no treatment for SARS right now. It can be prevented only though precautionary measures," said Vijayan.
Quoting a Japanese virologist, Aggarwal said: "These viruses have been living with us since ages. But they start causing problems only when we start encroaching upon their territories."
