China and the world might have to brace itself for a new outbreak of SARS, or, in the future, similar rapidly spreading viruses.

Doctors of Beijing Ditan Hospital make a victory sign as all the SARS patient in Chinese mainland are discharged from hospital on August 16, 2003, in Beijing. [Xinhua]

Experts and officials made the warning Saturday in Beijing after all the SARS patients in the Chinese mainland were dischargd from hospital.

Han Demin, deputy director of Beijing health bureau, said people should keep alert against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus.

Han, also an expert in ear-nose-throat surgery, said that although all SARS patients had been discharged from hospitals, the whole country must be vigilant against SARS virus because up to now, the sources of SARS virus and how people get infected have not been pinpointed.

"Currently, we're not quite sure about where and how SARS virus exist and whether the SARS disease will reoccur," Han said.

Meanwhile, Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organization's chief representative in China, also warned against lowering the guards against SARS.

"While one chapter has been closed, the fight against SARS is not over," he said.

"We must remain vigilant, and we cannot know for certain whether SARS will return again."

Bekedam is a member of an international group of experts who were in south China to study whether SARS spread to humans from animals.

Scientists have said viruses carried by wildlife in Guangdong province are nearly identical to the coronavirus responsible for the disease.

However, the research is still in its early stages, and a vaccine against SARS is an even more remote prospect.

"So far, there has been no scientific breakthrough, no medical miracle, that will make the world safe from SARS," Bekedam said.

The lack of a cure is why China must rely on its experience in containing the disease if it were to reappear, and many Chinese hospitals must improve their infection controls, he said.

Beijing well prepared

Han Demin, also president of the Beijing Tongren Hospital, disclosed that Beijing has made full preparations to fight possible recurrence of SARS.

The preventive measures include the fact that Beijing has retained all fever departments in major hospitals and a contingent of medical workers specially engaged in prevention and treatment of SARS.

The city is also formulating an emergency plan to fight possible outbreak of SARS in future, Han said, adding the plan covers supply of medical materials and an emergency medical treatment system among others.

Wang Guangmin, a doctor who was holed up at the hospital for three months at the height of the SARS epidemic, also expressed his concerns about the possible reemergence of SARS.

"We're a little worried about SARS coming back this winter," he said. "But the resistance in the general population has improved, and we have early-warning systems in place."

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