Disease centre plans get shot in the arm from SARS outbreak

Date: 10/04/03

By Karen Carstens

EUROPEAN Commission plans to create a European disease control agency have been given extra priority in response to the spread of the new killer viral disease, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

David Byrne, the health and consumer protection commissioner, said that his officials were "well advanced" in the preparation of legislation to establish a centre by 2005.

Addressing the European Parliament on Monday (7 April), the Irish commissioner said he would submit proposals for a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control "in the next couple of months".

SARS, a virus related to the common cold and pneumonia, was first detected in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong in November. It was officially reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in February and has spread to 18 countries, leaving more than 100 people dead and around 3,000 affected by its symptoms of high fever and a dry cough.

Guangdong, Hong Kong and Singapore are the worst affected areas, but it has also claimed victims in the UK and France. Byrne said the disease might have been better controlled if the WHO had been informed earlier by the Chinese authorities.

His spokesman, Thorsten Münch, said there were 48 possible cases in the EU. These had been notified via the Commission's early warning response system, which is part of the EU's Communicable Diseases Network. He also warned that the Union might not be able to cope in the event of an epidemic.

European Commission plans to create a European disease control agency have been given extra priority in response to the spread of the new killer viral disease, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).