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Warning given to avoid traveling to China's rural areas

Taiwanese should not head to rural areas nor eat wildlife meat while visiting China in order to avoid contracting SARS, a senior Department of Health official said yesterday.

Center for Disease Control Deputy Director Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said a team of World Health Organization (WHO) officials traveled to Guangdong Province earlier this month to conduct coronovirus tests on birds, reptiles and mammals in the wild.

"Most of those animals tested positive, indicating that coronovirus -- the pathogen that causes SARS -- still exists," Shih said, adding that against this backdrop, SARS is very likely to stage a comeback this fall or winter.

Shih said Taiwanese should avoid non-essential trips to China.

"Even if they travel to China, they should stay away from rural areas. More important, they should not come into contact with any wild animals nor eat wildlife meat," he said.

In preparation for a possible reemergence of SARS, Shih said, the WHO has unveiled a new reporting system and quarantine regulations. The world health watchdog body has also formally listed SARS as a statutory communicable disease -- a move that will require medical professionals to inform relevant health authorities immediately after they spot a suspected or probable case.

Shih said the government will call an interministerial meeting on Monday to discuss precautionary measures.

According to the new WHO regulations, the SARS prevention mechanism should be activated whenever two health care providers or three patients in the same hospital come down with the disease. The preventive measures will include temperature-taking on arrival at airports as well as various in-hospital infection control practices.

The WHO has also stipulated that those who have possibly been exposed to the SARS virus and have developed respiratory symptoms within 10 days of that possible exposure should undergo a three-day quarantine and not go to school or work.
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