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Patsy Moy

Conference gathers the best minds for ways to fight - and defeat - the virus

Long-term measures for fighting Sars will be unveiled in the next three months, according to Hong Kong's health chief speaking at the opening of a two-day conference  attended by medical experts from around the world.

Yeoh Eng-kiong said a decision would also be made on whether to build a hospital to cater for patients with infectious diseases.

But he said the Hospital Authority would improve facilities in existing hospitals for infection control as a short-term measure against the virus.

He was addressing the Sars Clinical Management Workshop  at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.

The delegates will discuss ways of fighting Sars, which has now infected more than 8,000 and killed nearly 800 worldwide.

It is expected that the group of more than 120 clinicians and medical experts from the US, UK, Canada, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, France, and the mainland - and WHO officials from Geneva - will reach a consensus on the clinical management of Sars infections after winding up the conference today.

Speaking at the opening ceremony yesterday, WHO representative Mark Salter  said they would focus on three areas: the symptoms and progression of the disease; treatment and infection risks; and infection control mechanisms.

'It is hoped that over the next 48 hours  ... we will better understand what has effectively worked and what has not worked, and, more importantly, where there are gaps in our knowledge. So we can put in place remedial measures, investigations or research to plug those gaps,' Dr Salter said.

Dr Yeoh said: 'This workshop is very important as it gathers people who have great experience in managing Sars patients. The purpose of this workshop is [that by its end]  ... the experts will be collectively coming out with what they call the consensus statement.

'The statement usually is  based on the experiences of experts where they agree that these are the prognostic features of Sars, these are the causative factors, this is how we think clinical management in future should be organised.'

Meanwhile, Ho Lau-cheung, of the obstetrics and gynaecology unit at Princess Margaret Hospital,  said a total of 12 pregnant women had contracted Sars since the start of the outbreak in March.

Of these, three had died, two had had abortions to avoid the serious side-effects of the treatment on the foetus, and five had miscarried. Of the five babies born to infected mothers, none had tested positive for Sars, said Dr Ho.

Hong Kong recorded no new infections for a second consecutive day yesterday, but two women, aged 73 and 70, died from the disease, taking the death toll to 293.

patsy.moy@scmp.com



Experts weigh long-term anti-Sars tactics