12 April 2018 | Geneva –– The World Health Organization (WHO) remembered Dr Carlo Urbani during a memorial ceremony to commemorate the 15th anniversary of his death on 29 March 2018.
Dr Urbani’s family, colleagues and friends remembered him as a dedicated professional who was the first WHO officer to identify SARS as a new and lethal disease. His life was celebrated through the words of Tommaso Urbani, Carlo’s eldest son, and the recollections of Dr Le Anh Tuan, Dr Stefan Hoyer and Dr Pascale Brudon, who was the Head of the WHO Office in Hanoi, Viet Nam in 2003. Also in attendance were Dr Ren Minghui, Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases, and Dr Raniero Guerra, Assistant Director-General for Special Initiatives. Several other current and former WHO staff as well as representatives from partners such as ‘Médecins sans Frontières’ were also present.
The ceremony concluded with remarks from the Director-General Dr Tedros, who paid tribute to Dr Carlo Urbani’s exemplary service to WHO and its ideals.
Carlo Urbani: bravery, professionalism and heroism
Dr Urbani, an expert in parasitic infections, was working in the WHO Country office in Hanoi at the time that SARS, a highly infectious and lethal disease, started to spread. In early 2003, while serving as an infectious disease specialist, he responded to a request from the French Hospital in Hanoi to assist in investigating a “severe case of flu”.
After examining the patient, his diagnosis was clear: this was an unusual case of an “unknown contagious disease”. Responding to the gravity of the situation, Dr Urbani alerted WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. His prompt action helped to contain the epidemic by triggering a global public health response that eventually saved the lives of countless people.
For the sake of public health and safety, Dr Urbani spent several days at the hospital coordinating infection control, quarantine interventions and maintaining the morale of hospital staff. He lived up to his conviction that it is a doctor’s duty to “stay close to the victims”.
On 11 March 2003 during a flight to Bangkok to attend a conference, Dr Urbani developed symptoms of SARS. He died of complication related to SARS on 29 March 2003 – a public health hero.
Background
In February 2003, the Chinese Ministry of Health announced the mysterious outbreak of an atypical pneumonia in Guangdong Province in southern China. News of this “mysterious” disease spread fast, as did the disease.
A Chinese doctor who had been treating patients in Guangdong is believed to have brought the disease (later known as SARS) to Hong Kong that same February. There the doctor developed symptoms and was transferred to a hospital where he died, infecting at least 10 other guests at the hotel where he had stayed.
Eight of those infected boarded airplanes to Canada, Singapore, the United States and Viet Nam, spreading an epidemic that would last for more than 100 days.
With the world on high alert, the public health community spared no effort in establishing an early global reaction to contain the spread of SARS and identify the cause of the infection.