Public Health Grand Rounds looks at SARS on Thursday; forum to follow at UNC site

CHAPEL HILL -- Public health officials in Toronto remember severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, as a crisis like no other.

The reaction and response of Canada’s public health professionals, health-care workers and political leaders will form the subject of "SARS: When a Global Outbreak Hits Home," a special broadcast of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health.

Part of the broadcast-webcast Public Health Grand Rounds series, this program on SARS will air live from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT on Thursday (Oct. 23). The series features experts commenting on a case study, usually in a locale focused on a particular health issue.

Thursday’s program will feature Dr. Bill Roper, dean of UNC’s School of Public Health and a former director of the CDC; Dr. Julie Gerberding, CDC director; Dr. Anita Barry, director of communicable disease control for the Boston Public Health Commission; and Dr. Hugh Tilson, clinical professor of epidemiology and health policy in UNC’s School of Public Health.

By July, more than 30 countries worldwide had reported cases of SARS, a disease that can be fatal. Toronto suffered the worst outbreak of the new disease outside of Asia.

The United States, thus far, has successfully dodged a major outbreak, said Gerberding. "And for us, good fortune in this case comes in the form of a prepared public health and clinical community," she added. "But to some extent, we have been fortunate that a particularly contagious patient has not slipped through the cracks."

Drawing on their experiences earlier this year, panelists and featured members of the Toronto health community will look at diagnosis, reporting, containment and preparedness for SARS in the future. The schedule also provides time for questions from the audience via the Internet, phone and fax.

Details on satellite downlink sites, the webcast and registration are at http://www.publichealthgrandrounds.unc.edu. The program is free but registration is requested to ensure adequate seating at each satellite site.

In Chapel Hill, a special forum will begin at 3 p.m., immediately following Public Health Grand Rounds. In early June, an Orange County, N.C., man – and UNC contract employee – was diagnosed with SARS after visiting an ill relative in a Toronto hospital. Health officials quarantined his family and some caregivers who had treated him, and placed two UNC co-workers under surveillance. The man recovered, and none of those under surveillance or in quarantine developed SARS.

Titled "SARS: Lessons from North Carolina," the Chapel Hill forum will be held in the Rosenau Auditorium, room 133 of the School of Public Health’s Rosenau Hall. Dr. Ed Baker, director of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health, will moderate.

Those slated to participate in the 3 p.m. forum include: Dr. Jeff Engel, North Carolina’s state epidemiologist; Dr. Ralph Baric, professor of epidemiology and immunology in the UNC schools of public health and medicine, respectively; and Dr. William Rutala, professor in the UNC department of medicine’s division of infectious diseases and director of UNC Health Care’s Hospital Epidemiology, Occupational Health and Safety Program.

Previous editions of Public Health Grand Rounds have focused on topics including bioterrorism, asthma, autism, obesity, genetics, breast cancer screening, disaster preparedness, West Nile virus, urban sprawl and food safety.

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Note: Media representatives interested in covering Thursday’s events at Rosenau Hall should contact Lisa Katz (see below) in advance to arrange parking.

Weblink note: To read an account of UNC’s response to the N.C. SARS case, in coordination with state health officials, click on http://gazette.unc.edu/archives/03jul16/file.3.html.

North Carolina Institute for Public Health contacts: Bev Holt, (919) 966-6274 or bev_holt@unc.edu; and Lisa Morris, (919) 843-9261 or lamorris@email.unc.edu

School of Public Health contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 966-7467 or lisa_katz@unc.edu