New WHO director reminds Hawai'i of need to be vigilant
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer
The incoming head of the World Health Organization — University of Hawai'i graduate Dr. Jong-Wook Lee — yesterday said global awareness and communication is helping fight the spread of SARS.
Lee, who will take office for his five-year term as WHO director-general in July, said the worldwide focus on the new respiratory illness is crucial, and that places like Hawai'i that are reliant on tourism need to be especially careful.
"One cannot be too careful about this problem," Dr. Jong-Wook Lee said.
"In the case of Honolulu, clearly there's a big travel industry so you better keep your vigilance and then keep your good name as a safe place to come and enjoy your vacation," said Lee, making a Hawai'i stopover after visiting Korea. "One cannot be too careful about this problem."
From an epidemiological viewpoint, "you are not more dangerous than any other places, actually safer than Singapore and many other places" because of monitoring efforts here, he said.
Lee, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, received his medical degree from Seoul National University and a master's degree in public health from UH in 1981.
Lee said the World Health Organization, which employs 8,000 people and has a $1 billion annual budget, is being very tough on officials in various countries to ensure that everything possible is being done to fight the disease.
He said it's not clear why most of the serious illnesses and deaths have occurred in China. "We are still investigating what was the cause and how the virus mutated," he said.
But Lee said he is encouraged by the speed at which the ailment has been traced to the coronavirus family. "It took just a few weeks before we detected, identified this disease," he said.
"We don't know whether this will die out or this will continue or this will become a major global pandemic. But we are watching and we are trying to control this problem."
State epidemiologist Dr. Paul Effler has said that Hawai'i has no confirmed cases of the disease. There have been two probable cases involving women who developed pneumonia after returning from China and three suspect cases.
