By Aleesha Khan, www.trinidadexpress.com

AS the recent outbreak of a severe new respiratory virus spread rapidly across international borders, Trinidad and Tobago has braced itself for the possible entry of the fatal disease to this country.

Local branches of international health organisations, the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (Carec) and the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), are closely monitoring instructions from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which recently issued an emergency advisory on the new virus.

Efforts to contact Health Minister Colm Imbert proved futile.The WHO’s emergency advisory, released on the weekend, declared the sickness a “worldwide health threat”, warning that nine cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have been fatal thus far, and an additional 150 cases have been reported worldwide.

Dr Popplewell, Principal Medical Officer of Epidemiology, was unavailable for comment.

Jones Madeira, information adviser of Carec, said his organisation was closely monitoring and assessing the information on the disease, and would “very shortly release information to the public to avoid panic and fear”.

Dr Geena Watson of PAHO said her organisation’s current position was to be on alert and “on the lookout” for any cases of the new virus. “There is nothing more we can do now than a basic surveillance of the country,” Watson said.

The WHO has warned travellers and airlines to be on alert for SARS. The disease’s main symptoms include a high fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

Clint Williams, director of corporate communications at BWIA, said airline staff had been alerted of the disease and were instructed to report probable cases to health authorities. But, Williams said, it would be difficult to pinpoint suspected cases due to the “generic nature of the symptoms”.