Chinese School - Don't forget what SARS taught us

Opinion / Li Xing

Don't forget what SARS taught us

By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-01-04 07:42

Hospitals in Beijing saw a dramatic decrease in the number of outpatients
suffering from coughing and sneezing the day after snow showered the
capital with much needed moisture.

According to some news reports, there was relief in the public health
sphere that another wave of influenza had finally ended. The latest
influenza seems to last longer than the conventional seven days, with
many of the casualties still suffering from slight headache or cough.

I myself was one of the casualties, sustaining the longest fever (two
days) that I have had since my teenage years. I caught the virus from my
daughter, who in turn had caught it from a classmate.

"She was just sitting behind me, coughing, sneezing and blowing out heat
and virus right into my neck," my daughter complained, while lying in bed
with a fever.

I was speechless when I heard this. I believe SARS (severe acute
respiratory syndrome), which wrecked havoc in China in the early part of
2003 , left us with enough hard lessons.

One of them was that individuals should be responsible not only for their
own health but for others as well. My daughter's classmate should have
the consciousness to refrain from going to school while running a fever.

Obviously a good warning from SARS has not been heeded.

It is not that SARS is forgotten. In fact, when I went to the China-Japan
Friendship Hospital one early morning last week, the hospital staff
directed me to the special emergency service for patients with fever.

The area enjoys good ventilation and the staff there was quick to make
diagnoses and offer treatment, well away from people arriving with other
problems.

My daughter's classmate may have had good excuses, as she, like the rest
of her classmates, is now busy preparing for this year's national college
entrance examinations. She probably did not want to lose a single day's
work lest she lag behind others.

But schools remain a breeding ground for communicable diseases. During
the wave of influenza in the last week of December, it was said that some
classes in suburban schools had to close because too many students were
sick.

The attendance of my daughter's classmate while running a fever leaves
enough loopholes that may grow into severe health risks if a more serious
pandemic, such as SARS, hits schools first.

Recalling the days when SARS was raging in Beijing, luck seemed to be
standing by schools where there were no SARS outbreak.

But next time, schools may not have the same luck. So I believe that
public health institutions, education bureaus and school administrations
should stop overlooking such communicable diseases as colds or influenza.

They should continue the good practice that was common during the SARS
period that no student with fever was allowed into the school ground.
That will not only benefit more students but also benefit the few
students who are barred from entry because of fever.

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