WHO critical of China over most recent SARS patient

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has criticised China over the way it handled its most recent case of the SARS respiratory disease, which was only reported following the discharge of the patient from hospital.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has criticised China over the way it handled its most recent case of the SARS respiratory disease, which was only reported following the discharge of the patient from hospital.It said it was concerned about the manner in which the infection was detected, treated and reported in a 40-year-old doctor from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.This was the fourth case of SARS in China in recent weeks.The WHO says the authorities were too slow to isolate the man in hospital and to inform it of a suspected case.It also urged more work to trace the source of the infection. China and the world can ill afford a second SARS epidemic, especially with the threat of the Bird Flu still very much threatening the region.(Source: BBC Health News, Feb 2004)