China has created a unique surveillance system using neighborhood communities to detect potential severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases, James Maguire from the World Health Organization (WHO) said in Beijing Tuesday.

Maguire, along with other WHO experts, had just concluded an inspection tour of Hebei Province in north China. He told a press conference in Beijing that Hebei had set up checkpoints at major commuter entrances into the province.

It also developed a "community watch" surveillance network. In addition to hospitals, these measures formed a "triple safety net," he said.

"It's quite a complicated and intricate web of surveillance," he said. "It's like a fishing net. It uses the traditional neighborhood community unit so it is quite unique to China."

He said this surveillance was active and could search for and detect potential SARS cases, compared to the passive system set up in hospitals.

Other WHO experts noted that in the places they visited in Hebei, almost everyone knew what SARS was and what its main symptoms were.

WHO expert Alan Schnur said the entire society had been mobilized the entire society.

"Overall, we are quite encouraged by these innovative strategies," he said.

Another WHO expert Keiji Fukuda said that all levels of the Chinese government, from the highest to the lowest, were showing increasing commitment to working with the international community and to working on SARS. He said the experts also saw the willingness of the Chinese government to listen to comments from the international community and make changes in its work.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2003)