SARS jeopardizes China, Hong Kong abroad programs

The University is allowing Tufts students studying abroad in Asia to return to the United States in the wake of the SARS outbreak.

Ten Tufts students are currently studying abroad on the spring Tufts-in-Hong Kong program, of which a few have returned home. "We have authorized their voluntary departure," Associate Dean for Programs Abroad Sheila Bayne said.

Bayne's office is also considering suspending its study abroad programs in Asia, including the fall-only Tufts-in-China program in Hangzhou. But for now officials are watching the development of SARS, which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome. "We are monitoring the situation from a medical perspective on a daily basis," Bayne said.

In the meantime, the five students planning to participate in Tufts-in-China have been advised to plan for the possibility that the program will be cancelled. "They have been informed that they should register for classes here in Medford," Bayne said. The fate of the program will be decided on June 13.

Other American colleges and universities face the same dilemma as Tufts. According to a New York Times report last week, study abroad programs in Hong Kong and China through Syracuse University, the University of Michigan, and Indiana University Bloomington have all been cancelled. The University of Pennsylvania, however, has allowed its students in Hong Kong and China to stay.

Though SARS has generated panic throughout Southeast Asia, the "mystery flu" has infected fewer than 3,000 people, with a mortality rate of 3.5 percent, according to Dr. Sherwood Gorbach, a professor of family medicine and community health at the Tufts School of Medicine.

There have been no deaths reported in the United States, and most deaths from SARS have been among elderly people, he said.

Gorbach agrees with the University's decisions on the Hong Kong and China programs. "We don't know what's going on in China," Gorbach said, referring to the allegations that Chinese officials have attempted to cover up the true scope of the epidemic. "It's really quite prudent to wait until we see what's happing."

Until more information surfaces about SARS, the University should not force the students currently in Hong Kong to return, Gorbach said. "The numbers are not so high that they would demand a return home," he said. "It is a personal choice." By allowing students the option to stay or return, "the University is taking an extremely reasonable stand," Gorbach said.

SARS will also keep some students from returning home to Asia this summer, including freshman Sonia Mak, a resident of Hong Kong. Her parents will not visit her either because of the forced quarantine policy for people suspected of carrying SARS.

Even though her parents may not experience the symptoms, Mak said her parents could be carriers of the disease and transmit it to her.

People who have contracted SARS experience symptoms similar to those of the flu -- fevers above 100.5 degrees and respiratory symptoms such as coughing and shortness of breath. According to Gorbach, the virus can survive for an average of four days, but up to ten days, before the infected person has any of the symptoms.

Doctors and scientists are struggling with ways to control the spread of SARS, but they have yet to find a fully reliable method to prevent contraction. "You can wear a mask, you wash your hands [but] there's no real way to prevent it," Gorbach said. SARS is spread primarily through airborne droplets.

Unless the case is extremely severe -- in which case the person with the disease is given assisted breathing, broad spectrum antibiotics, and corticosteroids -- infected people are "usually put in a hospital for observation to see that they're not going to progress to more severe circumstances," Gorbach said.