Seminar to design SARS guidelines
( 2003-09-16 13:46) (China Daily)
A set of guidelines for treating suspected SARS patients is being discussed
at a medical seminar in Guangzhou to overcome a major obstacle to effectively
combating the epidemic: misdiagnosis.
The ratio of misdiagnosed cases ranged from 30 to 40 per cent during the
outbreak earlier this year, New Express News quoted medical experts at the
seminar as saying.
The fear of being herded together with SARS patients deterred many from
seeking timely treatment. And their fears were not without reason - some
suspected SARS patients were later found to have contracted the disease after
being admitted to quarantine wards.
The early symptoms of SARS are similar to pneumonia, a disease most doctors
have not had that much experience treating. Major hospitals in Guangzhou average
about 1.5 pneumonia cases every day, said Chen Rongchang, deputy director of the
Guangzhou Respiratory Disease Research Institute.
There is no standard diagnostic procedure for SARS, which will cause
confusion should the disease recur, Chen said.
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