Transparency and Solidarity Needed to Fight SARS-Like Virus

Transparency and Solidarity Needed to Fight SARS-Like Virus
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan looks on during a meeting on the SARS-like virus coronavirus (nCoV) situation on May 23, 2013 at the World Health Assembly in Geneva. On May 27, she called the virus “a threat to the entire world.” (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)
Tara MacIsaac
5/29/2013
Updated:
6/24/2015

The MERS-CoV (novel coronavirus), a SARS-like virus that has infected at least 49 people worldwide and killed 27, is the “greatest concern right now,” said World Health Organization’s Director-General Margaret Chan at the 66th World Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday.

Chan expressed her concern during her closing remarks at the Assembly, according to a transcript on the organization’s website. She also noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) will work with Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, where the outbreak is most concentrated, to address the problem. The WHO will help “unpack the barriers” preventing full implementation of the International Health Regulations, Chan said.

WHO spokesman Glenn Thomas told The Epoch Times: “The main obstacle is we still don’t know about the characteristics of the virus. It’s a scientific obstacle in that sense.” Chan has commented on other obstacles in the form of scientific red tape, though Thomas did not comment on these.  

Saudi Arabian scientists said they were delayed in developing diagnostic kits and blood tests when virologist Ron Fouchier patented the virus. Saudi microbiologist Ali Mohamed Zaki mailed a sample last year to Fouchier at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands.

Fouchier tested, sequenced, and identified it last September as a new virus. Then his private medical center patented how it synthesized the germ and required other researchers who wanted samples to first sign an agreement that could trigger a payment.

Fouchier responded to inquiries from The Associated Press: “There are no restrictions to the use of the virus for research and public health purposes. There are only restrictions for commercial exploitation and forwarding virus to third parties.”

Thomas said “We’re working very closely with supporting countries. We will be supporting an investigation in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia to understand what is happening.”

Currently, surveillance and monitoring are the only measures in place. The risk has been greatest for people with previously existing health issues and direct contact with the Middle Eastern countries where virus is most prevalent. The virus impacts the respiratory system.

Chan stressed the need for international cooperation to address the threat: “The novel coronavirus is not a problem that any single affected country can keep to itself or manage all by itself. The novel coronavirus is a threat to the entire world. … This virus is something that can kill us.”

She said she heard the words transparency and solidarity come up often in discussions on the International Health Regulations. A death from the virus in France Tuesday highlighted the international nature of the threat. 

French doctors released a report on Wednesday suggesting people with the disease be isolated for 12 days. They said the incubation period could be up to 12 days, longer than the 10 days previously reported. The French man who died had likely contracted the disease on a visit to Dubai. He passed it onto a second patient in France with whom he shared a room for three days.

Chan’s speech followed the WHO budget approval. For the first time in the WHO’s history, the World Health Assembly approved the proposed program budget in its totality. The WHO’s budget for 2014–2015 is $3,977 million. Included in the budget priorities is the strengthening of International Health Regulations to stem the spread of MERS-CoV and other such viruses.

The WHO has not issued any warning against traveling to Saudi Arabia or Tunisia, though Thomas noted pilgrims often travel to the region and they should be aware of the threat.

“We do not know where the virus hides in nature,” Chan said. “We do not know how people are getting infected. Until we answer these question, we are empty-handed when it comes to prevention.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Tara MacIsaac is a senior reporter with the Canadian edition of The Epoch Times.
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