Pains and Gains from China’s Experiences with Emerging Epidemics: From SARS to H7N9

Table 1

Summary of epidemics caused by emerging respiratory viruses in China from 2003 to 2014.

Characteristic	SARS-Cov	H5N1	H1N1	H7N9
Country of origin	China	China	Mexico	China
1st case in China	Guangdong,; November 2002	Hong Kong,; May 1997	Sichuan,; May 2009	Shanghai,; February 2013
Viral genome	Positive-sense, ss RNA	Negative-sense, ss segmented RNA	Negative-sense, ss segmented RNA	Negative-sense, ss segmented RNA
Pathogen identification	WHO declared SARS-Cov as the pathogen,; April 16, 2003	National Influenza Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK; CDC, USA,; August 1997	CDC, USA,; April 15, 2009	CDC, China,; March 29, 2013
Epidemiology in China	5,341 cases; 349 deaths; DR, 6.5%	47 cases; 30 deaths; DR, 63.8%	128,966 cases; 891 deaths; DR, 0.6%	349 cases; 136 deaths; DR, 38.9%
Human-to-human transmission	Yes	Limited	Yes	Limited
Genesis/source	Bats	Domestic poultry	Swines	Domestic poultry
Diagnostics in China	Real-time PCR	ELISA/real-time PCR	ELISA/real-time PCR	Real-time PCR
Drugs in China	No specific medication	Oseltamivir, amantadine, and rimantadine; TCM	Oseltamivir and zanamivir; TCM	Oseltamivir and zanamivir; TCM
Vaccines in China	Inactivated vaccine; Phase I clinical trials finished in 2004	Inactivated vaccine approved in 2008 for storage, not for public sale	Inactivated vaccine approved for market in 2009	Inactivated vaccine approved for clinical trial in 2014

Data from WHO, Chinese Food and Drug Administration, and CMH.
ss: single-stranded; DR: death rate; PCR: polymerase chain reaction; and ELISA: enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.