Joining national and international health organizations in calling for restricted travel to areas afflicted by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Harvard issued an advisory on Friday recommending a moratorium on University-related trips to East Asia.

Although some University programs have shaped their plans according to the warning, students studying abroad and faculty who do research in Asia have not made major changes to their plans, professors and administrators say.

The advisory coincided with a flurry of headlines in the regional media about a Harvard epidemiologist’s prediction of how SARS could potentially impact the Boston area.

In a highly-publicized Friday briefing for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., infectious disease experts from Harvard Medical School said that if just one SARS case came to the Boston area, nearly 3 million infections and 100,000 deaths could result within six months.

To date, SARS has resulted in 2,601 reported cases and 100 deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Four cases have been reported in Massachusetts alone, according to David S. Rosenthal ’59, director of Harvard University Health Services (UHS).

Harvard’s advisory warned affiliates to refrain from traveling to China, Singapore and Vietnam, in accordance with precautions recommended by WHO and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Rosenthal said that even if travelers do not contract SARS while abroad, they might be detained and prevented from returning due to fears about spreading the virus.

“The issue is they may get stuck in a quarantine, and I even have concerns about whether they will be allowed to come back here,” Rosenthal said.

travel plans immediately, according to chair Philip A. Kuhn.

“[The advisory] is a request and not a mandate. We who deal with Asia may have occasion to visit those areas for University business,” Kuhn said.

He said more than a dozen undergraduates and at least half of the department’s faculty go abroad to East Asia each year, and the department has not yet heard of anyone personally affected by SARS.

“I believe SARS should be taken seriously, on the other hand, we sometimes have to run risks in the pursuit of our duties,” said Kuhn, who said he just returned from Hong Kong.

According to Wolcowitz, a five-week Harvard Summer School Program in Shanghai was cancelled because of the SARS warnings.

And administrators at the Office of Career Services (OCS) say they will advise students who win travel fellowships to avoid East Asia.