This article was first published 23 years ago

SARS fear grips India,
no cases detected yet

April 08, 2003 14:40 IST

With the SARS fear gripping India, experts say lack of information sharing by the authorities in China, where the disease was first reported, may have led to this global health crisis.

"Had the World Health Organisation intervened earlier, the response would have been more effective," WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland said in New Delhi.

The collaboration with China was now relatively good, she told reporters on Monday.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome seems to have originated from China's Guangdong province.

"Generally a viral epidemic takes six to eight weeks to peak and subside, but it has been four months since SARS epidemic started,"

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Dr Sudhanshu Vrati from the National Institute of Immunology said.

"There are so many doubts about SARS that people are already exhibiting a panic reaction," Dr Randeep Guleria from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences said. "I am approached by people with pneumonia like symptoms and breathing difficulty. This kind of panic reaction is not needed as reports say that the infection so far has mainly affected health care workers and family members and close contacts of infected people," he said.