Australia is well prepared for SARS: WHO professor

Professor Aileen Plant on SARS in Australia

A West Australian woman who helped contain the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Vietnam says Australia’s very well prepared for any outbreak of the virus.Professor Aileen Plant, who is heading the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) monitoring of the SARS virus in Vietnam, says containing the virus is not rocket science.She says affected countries such as China, Hong Kong and Canada are unlucky because they were the first to see the virus.Professor Plant believes it is unlikely Australia will have a SARS epidemic and people should not be worried.”I think there’s a very good chance that it won’t get to an epidemic stage because I think everybody is very ready to diagnose it, to isolate people while they’re thinking about it and make sure they don’t spread the disease anywhere else,” she said.(Source: ABC Online; Last Update: Thursday, May 8, 2003. 11:29pm (AEST))