A Chinese expert has urged medical departments in snow disaster
areas to act to prevent respiratory infectious diseases.
"Crowded places like railway stations should take swift measures
against outbreaks of post-disaster respiratory epidemics," Zhong
Nanshan said on Saturday. Zhong is a leading scientist who helped
control the 2003 outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS) in China.
Zhong is also president of the Chinese Medical Association (CMA)
and an adviser to the Emergency Committee Office of Guangdong
Province for public hygiene incidents.
Stuck on clogged highways or stranded amid massive crowds at
railway or bus stations for days, millions of people are at high
risk of infectious disease.
To support Guangdong in fighting the spread of infectious
disease, Bayer HealthCare China donated cash and medicine valued at
700,000 yuan (97,300 U.S. dollars) on Saturday.
At the donation ceremony, Zhong said that large groups of
stranded passengers should be moved to a number of locations to
avoid an thill-like situations, and that enclosed public places
like railway waiting-rooms should increase ventilation and air
flow.
He suggested that sanitation and sterilization measures be taken
in crowded railway stations and airports. These steps could include
using vinegar or wormwood incense; stopping littering, maintaining
sanitation, encouraging travelers to wear gauze masks and exercise
if possible and isolating persons who displayed initial symptoms of
respiratory tract infections.
According to the Guangzhou Public Health Department, massive
crowds in stations stranded by the weather are experiencing poor
sanitary conditions and most lack adequate winter clothes. It has
publicized prevention tips to passengers and prepared emergency
medicines.
So far, no cases of infectious disease or food poisoning have
been reported in snow-disaster areas, according to the Ministry of
Health.
Minister of Health Chen Zhu has ordered public health
departments to implement state medical procedures and emergency
plans to ensure timely treatment for the ill and injured.
(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2008)