Fed: Doctors to be placed at airports to monitor SARS

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Fed: Doctors to be placed at airports to monitor SARS

By Heather Gallagher

MELBOURNE, April 4 AAP - Doctors and nurses are to be posted at Australia's internationalairports to guard against the spread of the deadly flu-like SARS virus.

With seven suspected cases now reported in Australia, federal Health Minister Kay Pattersonsaid health professionals would be on call at airports from tomorrow to provide adviceand assess possible cases of the disease which has killed 81 people in 19 countries.

No deaths have been attributed to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Australiabut two possible cases have emerged in NSW, one in Queensland, one in the Northern Territoryand three in Victoria.

The Victorian cases are all from a Canadian family which is visiting the state.

Senator Patterson said airlines would also begin making onboard health announcementsabout the disease, while incoming and outgoing passengers would be given leaflets abouthow to protect themselves from SARS.

"I believe we've acted in a prudent and responsible and appropriate way, and we havevery, very good procedures in place in our hospitals," she said.

The Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Richard Smallwood said Australia already hadstrong measures in place to identify and isolate people possibly ill with SARS.

"What is happening at the moment is just a step up," he said.

"It would be a wise and prudent move to have clinical expertise actually at the airport."

Meanwhile, Prime Minister John Howard said Australia had issued a SARS health alerton March 16 and would cope better than most countries with an outbreak.

"... because of our very strong public health measures (we are) well and truly ready,"

Mr Howard told radio 3AW.

The three Canadian children suspected of being infected in Victoria have been placedin negative pressure rooms where air is sucked into vents, preventing any possible virusescaping out the doors.

Victoria's chief medical officer Dr Robert Hall said guidelines had been issued toall hospitals on the best measures for protecting staff against any patients who mightbe carrying the disease.

Also in Victoria, the state's Education Department today recalled 12 children and twoteachers who are on a school visit in China.

The group from Northcote High School left Australia last Sunday, before travel warningswere issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Education Department spokesman Howard Kelly said the group would return to Australiaas soon as possible, with the department to cover the cost of the move.

While surgical face masks have been widely used overseas as a protection against SARSinfection, a Queensland specialist has warned that such measures are of limited use.

"Surgical masks are designed to keep wounds sterile during surgery when a surgeon talksor coughs," said Dr David Bromwich a respiratory protection specialist from Queensland'sGriffith University.

"They are not designed to protect the wearer."

But Dr Bromwich said they could be helpful as a barrier that might stop people who'vetouched infected droplets of saliva, for example, from then touching their faces and becomingsick.

Scientists have said the virus is spread by droplets, through coughing and sneezing.

But the World Health Organisation now believes it may also be spread by the environment,such as by water or sewerage systems.

AAP hmg/mh/nw/br

KEYWORD: SARS AUST NIGHTLEAD