SARS: Best Practices for Identifying And Caring for New Cases.

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing entitled “SARS:  Best Practices for Identifying And Caring for New Cases.”  The July 30th hearing was a followup to the Subcommittee’s May 2003 hearing on coordinating the response to individual SARS outbreaks among local, state, and Federal officials as well as between government officials and the private sector.  While officials from global health agencies have indicated that, for the moment, SARS appears to have stabilized, there is concern that this is simply a lull before the storm.  At the Subcommittee’s May 2003 hearing individuals within the health care community relayed their concerns that there will be a reemergence of SARS this fall.  With that in mind, the Subcommittee’s July 30th hearing examined the best practices that can be identified for controlling SARS within the health care and community setting.  At the hearing, officials from the General Accounting Office released the results from a study that the Subcommittee Chairman requested of national best practices for identifying and locating SARS cases.

COPIES OF THE HEARING AVAILABLE BY CONTACTING MARY ROBERTSON AT THE PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS, 202/224-9505.

WITNESS LIST:

DR. MARJORIE E. KANOF
Director, Clinical and Military Health Care Issues
Health Care Team
U. S. General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C.

DR. JAMES M. HUGHES
Director, National Center for Infectious Disease
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Department of Health and Human Services
Atlanta, Georgia