Asia Draws on Lessons From Past Outbreaks

Shannon Bourret
April 27, 2009
1:51 PM

Learning from the deadly SARS and bird flu outbreaks of recent years that left regions in Asia better prepared for a decisive response, Asian governments are moving swiftly to contain the deadly new swine flu disease. On Monday, Hong Kong authorities said they are among the first governments, anywhere, to take legal steps that require doctors to report any patients suspected of swine flu to the authorities. Any patient who is identified will be isolated and treated, and those people with whom he/she has had contact with will be identified and quarantined. Many Asian governments today are better able to monitor and combat infectious diseases than in the past because across Asia, the SARS epidemic combined with the possible threat of a potential avian flu pandemic made public health officials aware of the risk of infectious diseases. Quarantining may be less effective with swine flu than with SARS because SARS victims were only contagious at a late stage of the disease, when symptoms were already fairly evident. This made it easier to round up a victim's contacts before they could spread the disease to others.

The swine flu had basically taken over the news. All news channels and newspapers are full of stories about this disease. I think its terrifying. With so many people already dead and so many others infected, spreading it to others is really scary. I do think that it is important that government and medical officials use as much knowledge as possible from the past outbreaks of SARS and the bird flu to help contain this swine flu. I think that is going to be key in keeping this outbreak under control. I like the fact that Hong Kong is making it mandatory for doctors to report any patients suspected of swine flu to the authorities. If people who have come in contact with others who are infected, it is important that they be quarantined to decrease their chance of spreading the disease, even if quarantining may not be as effective with swine flu than it was with SARS. I really hope this pandemic gets under control soon.

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