DR Manuel Peña, the local Pan-American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) representative, yesterday urged Jamaicans not to panic over the outbreak of a deadly, infectious form of pneumonia and told the health authorities to maintain close vigilance for suspected cases.

“Health authorities should report cases which have typical symptoms to reinforce the surveillance of the virus,” Dr Pena, who also represents the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, told the Observer.

Yesterday, he encouraged locals to go ahead with travel and trade plans, noting that the organisations still have not “found any justification to restrict” such plans.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health said it was preparing guidelines for Jamaica and will share these with the relevant health groups and the Airport Authority.

According to Dr Peña, up until yesterday, a total of 167 new and suspected cases of the pneumonia — dubbed Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS — were reported in seven different countries.

So far, the disease has claimed four lives.

Of the total cases, Dr Pena said, 40 were reported in Vietnam alone. SARS cases were also reported in Canada, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand, Hong Kong and China.

The cause of the illness is still unknown, and according to medical experts, does not appear to respond to standard treatment.

The signs and symptoms include an initial flu-like illness, with rapid onset of high fever followed by muscle aches, headache and sore throat. In some, but not all cases, this is followed by bilateral pneumonia. Some cases are recovering but others may progress to acute respiratory distress requiring assisted breathing and remaining critically ill.

Yesterday, Pena said PAHO/WHO is co-ordinating international efforts to identify and treat the disease.

The collaborative effort of the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, which has 11 laboratories in 10 countries will work in developing a diagnostic test and effective treatment.

“So far our [PAHO/WHO] main role has been to talk and contact the health authorities of the world,” he told the Observer. “We are giving all the Governments an update of the disease and guidelines on how they can partially treat sufferers of the disease.”

These initial treatment, he said, include “adequate hydration and nutrition and special equipment to help those who may suffer from breathing problems”.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health’s chief medical officer, Dr Barry Wint, said his office was “keeping in touch” with the United States Centre for Disease Control and the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre”, which were also tracking the disease.