Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-04-07-Speech-1-044"
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"en.20030407.4.1-044"2
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". – Mr President, I am pleased to have this opportunity to inform this House of the circumstances surrounding the condition known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, to use the acronym. It can be divided into a number of different questions. What is it? Where does it come from? How does it spread? How can we stop it?
SARS, however, demonstrates very clearly that we are living in a truly global environment, where the increasing mobility of people also enables diseases to move ever more freely.
Because of the ease and extent of modern travel, an increasing level of preparedness is required across borders to deal with the threat posed by communicable diseases. In the European Union, surveillance and coordination at Community level need to be strengthened to address the threat to public health. I have been stressing this need for some time now, and in the European Convention, the report prepared by Mr Katiforis has recognised this and I hope the Convention will take this up in its discussions.
The EU Communicable Diseases Network started its work three years ago to detect and control communicable diseases in people, irrespective of the cause and means of transmission. This Network serves to survey and investigate the outbreaks. This also involves identifying the cause and defining control measures. The Commission’s role is to coordinate and support these activities.
This SARS outbreak puts to the test the real capacities of the two pillars of the Network – epidemiological surveillance and early warning. The Network committee has, together with the Commission, defined and put into operation an effective surveillance system. This system picks up all suspected SARS cases and gives a complete and clear picture of developments during the outbreak.
Obviously we have to be cautious, and err on the side of safety. This approach seems to be working: most of the suspected cases turn out to be something else.
However, this does not give grounds for complacency. The European Union surveillance strategy on SARS is fully connected to the global surveillance coordinated by the World Health Organisation.
The second element of this strategy is prevention. We must work together to reduce exposure to the disease. Unnecessary travel to affected areas should be discouraged or postponed. Hong Kong and the Guangdong province of China have been identified in this respect by the WHO. This is under constant review and further advice will be issued if the situation in other regions warrants travel restrictions.
Similarly, all would agree on the importance of health screening on departure from the affected areas and the provision of information to passengers and flight crews.
The Commission is playing its role of coordinator, and encouraging common approaches and criteria. During the last three weeks my services have tried to integrate national measures with global ones, through regular meetings, audio-conferences and consultations with the Member States, candidate countries and the WHO.
SARS, of course, entails other dimensions in addition to public health implications. The SARS outbreak has already made a political and economic impact. Travel advice has had an impact on air travel and tourism in Asia. Now, industry exhibitions and meetings have been postponed and it is predicted that Asia’s economic growth may be affected. Obviously, earlier notifications to the WHO by those affected could have mitigated many of the effects. This is a key lesson for the future.
This syndrome is a respiratory disease that has recently been reported in Asia, North America and Europe. The illness usually begins with a fever, sometimes associated with other symptoms such as chills, headache and body aches. After two to ten days SARS patients may develop a cough that might progress to difficulties in breathing. In 10 to 20% of cases patients will require mechanical ventilation. It is estimated that in 4% of cases SARS proves to be fatal. At present no treatment beyond good intensive and supportive care has been consistently shown to improve the condition of persons with SARS.
I must stress that the capacity of the Commission to extend its coordinating and facilitating role any further is currently at its very limit. In the absence of new arrangements to pool the existing expertise we will not be able to go beyond our current efforts. I have referred on many occasions to our plans to strengthen our capacity to deal with communicable diseases.
In my view, the most effective way to strengthen Community activities is to set up a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. As many of you will be aware, we are well advanced in the preparation of the enabling legislation which I intend to table in the next couple of months. My proposal will be to establish such a centre by 2005.
The centre will enhance surveillance. It will coordinate and facilitate common responses, and collaborate with Member States, third countries and international organisations, in particular the WHO. It will not replace existing national capacities, but rather hook them up to act as a reference and coordination point both in routine and crisis situations. This will also play an important role in an enlarged Europe.
On a multinational level the SARS situation can be said to be under control, but not improving, as had initially been expected. In Europe the situation still appears to be manageable. However, the strict control procedures will have to continue. In the fight to beat this disease it is crucial for anybody who believes they have the symptoms and have travelled in the affected areas to consult their doctor.
We must not neglect the support that the EU and its Member States can give to the affected countries in their search for the cause and the remedy. There is still an ongoing discussion whether the responsible agent is close to the common cold or coronavirus. We must continue to support the WHO in its endeavours in this regard.
Finally, I can assure you that the Commission will continue with the Member States, and in close collaboration with the candidate countries and the WHO, to do everything within its powers to defeat the spread of SARS.
In response to what Mr De Rossa said earlier, I can say that there have been preliminary discussions with the Council to organise a meeting of the Council in the near future to discuss this issue further.
In relation to the causative agent, the scientists have detected a previously unrecognised virus belonging to the family of coronaviruses in patients with SARS. While the new coronavirus is still the leading hypothesis for the cause of SARS, other viruses are still under investigation as potential causes.
On the question of transmission, the principal way SARS appears to be spread is through respiratory secretions called droplets, namely, when someone with SARS coughs or sneezes droplets into the air and someone else breathes them in. Nevertheless, other ways of transmission cannot be ruled out, such as direct close contact with an infected person. In particular, health-care workers or household members of a SARS patient have been known to be affected. But concern has been raised on other potential ways of transmission.
On the question of the origin: recently a WHO investigation team has been authorised by the Chinese Government to travel to Guangdong province. Scientists currently speculate that the SARS virus either jumped to humans from an animal species or mutated into a more virulent form. In its continuing work, the WHO team is expected to visit Foshan City, where the first case of SARS was reported.
On the question of numbers in the European Union, all 15 Member States have reported to the Commission a total of 46 cases - 19 probable and 27 suspected - with no deaths. It is also important to note that there has been no local transmission within the European Union.
In the candidate countries, EFTA and other European countries, 14 countries have reported data, a total of eight cases - three probable and five suspected - with no deaths.
In the other countries, to date a total of 2396 cases have been reported, including 89 deaths.
The unknown factors combined with the global spread of this disease have inevitably prompted extensive media attention. However, we should not lose sight of the fact that although SARS is often referred to as a ‘killer pneumonia’, estimates indicate that it kills fewer people than ‘normal’ influenza."@en1
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