SARS threat keeps students out of Asia

Ranit Lieberman is somewhat relieved to not be going to China.

She – like the other… Ranit Lieberman is somewhat relieved to not be going to China.

She – like the other students who are planning to attend the summer session of Semester at Sea – found out that several of the planned stops in East Asia were changed because of the worldwide epidemic known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.”It’s a good thing,” she said about the changes in the itinerary. “I don’t know if my parents would have agreed to let me go [if the changes weren’t made].”

Assuring students’ safety should be the top concern for officials making the decisions, Lieberman said.

According to the World Health Organization, SARS’ symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. Though doctors can treat the symptoms, there is no cure currently available.

Though some students, like Aaron Probst, aren’t afraid of getting SARS, Probst agreed with the decision to redirect the trip. He pointed out that, if even one student contracted SARS, it could become a problem for everyone on the trip.

He added that he had, nevertheless, looked forward to visiting China.

Instead of the planned tour of the Pacific Rim, which included stops in China and Vietnam, the boat will visit Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Hawaii.

“Either way, it’s really cool,” Lieberman said. She added that she has dreamed of visiting Australia for a long time.

The ship will make port stops in Alaska, Russia and Japan, according to the SAS website.

As of May 10, there were 4,884 cases of SARS reported in China with 235 cases resulting in death, according to WHO.

Centers for Disease Control and Preventionand the U.S. State Department issued statements discouraging individuals from “nonessential travel” to places with large numbers of SARS cases, including mainland China and Hong Kong.

Since the SARS outbreak, the State Department issued several travel advisories and warnings about traveling to mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Toronto.

Lieberman said students received notification more than a month ago that the trip route might be altered, but they were not told that the changes were definite until three weeks ago.

Officials at the University Honors College also decided to change summer travel plans because of SARS; they canceled the college’s annual trip to Mongolia, which included a visit to Hong Kong that was canceled earlier.

Although WHO officials reported 1,674 probable cases and 212 deaths in Hong Kong as of May 10, health risks were not at the front of every student’s mind.

John Paul Oleksiuk says SARS was not even among his five biggest concerns.

Oleksiuk planned to join the group in Mongolia late in the trip because of his prior commitments with the rowing team. He said he was more worried about navigating his way alone through foreign airports on his first trip outside the East Coast than getting SARS.

Most of the scholarship and grant money he planned to use to pay for the trip can be deferred until next year, Oleksiuk said.

Since Probst and Oleksiuk were not seriously concerned about contracting SARS on their visits, both said they probably would not have taken any special precautions while in Asia.

“Personally, I think it was a little extreme,” Oleksiuk said of the trip cancellation, which he learned about three weeks ago. He said he believes the trip would have been risky without western medical facilities.

Oleksiuk pointed out that Mongolia has a large population and that Mongolian officials have reported about the same number of SARS cases as reported in Pennsylvania. Some cases may go unreported in Mongolia, he added.

Nine probable cases were reported in Mongolia by May 9, according to WHO, though no cases had led to death. Although the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 12 possible cases of SARS in Pennsylvania by May 8, only one case was considered probable.