Evidence map›Paper›PMID 17626386›Full record

ArticleCanadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique

Was WHO SARS-related travel advisory for Toronto ethical?

Leo J Paquin

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Leo J PaquinMcGill University, Bioethics Unit, Montreal, QC. leo.paquin@gmail.com

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Freedom of movement is undoubtedly a fundamental international right. However, circumstances may arise where that right must be curtailed. Was the 2003 SARS outbreak in Toronto one such circumstance? Guénaël R.M. Rodier thinks WHO's decision to impose a SARS-related travel advisory was justifiable, even reasonable, though it caused a loss of over $1.1 billion in the Greater Toronto Area. That travel to an infected area was the most common epidemiological link with SARS infections supports Rodier's position. However, as suggested in the Naylor report, issuing a travel advisory does not keep infected individuals from leaving Toronto and such individuals account for 5 of 6 cases where SARS was spread from Canada. That alone would discount Rodier's argument and the WHO decision on purely logistical grounds. But there is an ethical question as well. Was the travel advisory implemented fairly? This question is best judged using Nancy E. Kass's framework for public health. From that framework, two points are placed in immediate relief. First, the Toronto authorities were not given an opportunity to state their case to WHO before the travel advisory was implemented. Second, the framework requires that burdens be distributed fairly and the travel advisory did not do that, or even attempt to do so.

Indexed as

Health PolicyTravelWorld Health OrganizationCommunicable Disease ControlDecision MakingDisease OutbreaksHumansOntarioPublic HealthSevere Acute Respiratory SyndromeSocial Justice

Identifiers

PMID17626386
PMCPMC6975986

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.