Some SARS travel warnings are lifted, but caution is still advised.

The World Health Organization has lifted travel warnings for Hong Kong and some parts of China, but people are advised to continue taking precautions against Severe Acute Respiratory Disease, or SARS. Dr. Janak Koirala, assistant professor of infectious diseases at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, says although SARS may be a mild infection in some people, others have more severe symptoms and special care needs to be taken. He explains:

SOUND BITE: ". . . if they think they have SARS, because they have been in contact with people who have SARS, or if they have traveled to the area or the countries or places where they have SARS, then they ah should go immediately to their physicians and also they should take precautions and don't pass it on to other people including ah avoiding close contacts or even putting on masks."

Dr. Koirala says more than 8,000 people worldwide have been infected with SARS and about 690 have died from the disease, which has been concentrated primarily in China and eastern Asian countries. In the United States, 67 people have been infected and no one has died. Dr. Koirala recommends these precautions to protect against SARS -

SOUND BITE: " . . . because SARS is spread by ah respiratory secretions, the most important thing is to not have ah contact with respiratory secretions like ah saliva or ah with the nasal secretions to other people, meaning ah when we are sneezing or coughing, we should cover our, the infected person should cover ah face or ah if possible put a mask on and wash hands you know after using mask or touching nose and mouth and also, to avoid physical contact, especially kissing when somebody has infection."

Dr. Koirala says even though SARS has affected many people, it has not spread as fast as influenza so precautions are necessary, but people should not panic about getting the disease.