Southern States - Karnataka   

SARS case confirmed in state

By Our Staff Correspondent

Udupi May 7. The State Nodal Officer for SARS and Additional Director of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, R.K. Kumar Swamy, said on Wednesday that the SARS virus had been found in the blood, throat swab and urine sample of the CEO of a joint venture medical institution in Malaysia, Rajan Pai, who had returned to Manipal from that country last month. But Dr. Pai was not a SARS patient, he stressed.

Dr. Swamy told presspersons here that the report from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, had confirmed the presence of the SARS virus in Dr. Pai, but he had not developed the disease. He would be well within a week.

Dr. Swamy said he had directed that Dr. Pai be kept under `house quarantine' till he recovered completely.

Dr. Pai left Malaysia on April 22 and reached Chennai via Sri Lanka on April 23. He developed fever in Manipal on April 28. The Head of the Department of Microbiology, Kasturba Medical College (KMC) Hospital, Sugandhi Rao, sent samples of his blood, urine, and throat swab for test at the NIV on April 29.

But the KMC Hospital authorities had not sent the details of Dr. Pai's case either to him (Dr. Swamy) or to the District Health and Family Welfare Department. So, he (Dr. Swamy) had personally come to inspect the matter. As a precautionary measure, the Health Department had been directed to screen all those who had come into contact with Dr. Pai during his stay in Manipal and had developed symptoms connected with SARS.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• SARS case confirmed in state
• Loans for poor students at low interest rate
• Uncertainty for many govt. employees
• Notification on seat-sharing on May 15
• Dalvoy Lake to be developed as tourist centre
• Train services paralysed in Hubli
• Govt. closes down 21 schools for rehabilitated children

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu