Leading Chinese medical scientist Zhong Nanshan has suggested a
number of methods Taiwanese doctors can use to treat severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients in the region.
Official statistics from Taiwan show that the mortality rate of
SARS in the region was relatively high, said Zhong. He suggested
medical staff in Taiwan improve their treatment of
seriously-infected SARS patients.
Zhong Nanshan is an academician with the Chinese Academy of
Engineering and director of the Respiratory Disease Research
Institute of No.1 Hospital affiliated with Guangzhou Medical
Science College.
Zhong's institute has developed a treatment system to save
seriously-infected SARS patients which has been used worldwide.
Zhong suggested use of cortical hormone at the right time,
depending on the state of the disease. Severe acute respiratory
syndrome is a disease of sthenic immunologic function. The first
week was usually when the virus replicated and it was not necessary
to use cortical hormone until the disease deteriorated quickly and
the shadow in the lung grew rapidly, said Zhong.
Zhong also advised Taiwan medical staff to use continuous positive
airway pressure (CPAP) immediately when the patient had hypoxemia
symptoms. This might help to reduce the use of cortical hormone and
alleviate hypoxemia symptoms, said Zhong.
Traditional Chinese medicine could be used in the early stages for
supporting treatment.
The overall mortality rate of SARS in Guangdong is 3.77 percent,
the lowest among the hard-hit regions in the world. Zhong's
institute treated over 100 severely-infected SARS patients in
Guangdong with a mortality rate of 6 percent, much lower than that
predicted by the World Health Organization.
(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2003)