The Hindu : SARS suspects test negative for virus

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 21, 2003

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SARS suspects test negative for virus

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI APRIL 20. The Centre today heaved a sigh of relief with the laboratory reports of two suspected patients of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), including a foreigner, testing negativefor the disease-causing new corona virus. There is only one suspected case of SARS in New Delhi whose test reports are awaited now.

Unconfirmed reports said one more person, who arrived at Mumbai from Bangkok last night, was admitted to the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital after he complained of hypertension, showing signs of high blood pressure and slight breathlessness though he had no fever. However, the Director-General of Health Services, S.P. Aggarwal, said he had no information about the case.

The patient had stopped over at Bangkok before taking a flight to Mumbai and had been advised hospitalisation.

Talking to reporters today, Dr. Aggarwal said the foreigner, who had been admitted to the RML Hospital on arrival from Australia on April 16, had tested negative for the new corona virus in the genetic sequencing. Earlier, his urine and sputum had shown the presence of the virus but his blood sample had tested negative in the commonly carried out PCR test.

Admitting that testing of the new corona virus was a totally new experience for the medical professionals the world over, Dr. Aggarwal said that genetic sequencing was carried out to confirm the results if there was any doubt.

The urine and sputum samples of the foreigner could have tested positive for any other kind of virus and hence he was being kept in the hospital for some more time. The PCR and genetic sequencing tests were time-consuming and expensive with each costing about Rs. 8,000.

The test reports of the seven-year-old girl, who has been admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital here upon arrival from Beijing where she stayed with her parents, have certified that she has not been affected by the SARS-causing new corona virus.

Now the Health Ministry is awaiting the test reports of the 34-year-old person who was admitted to Safdarjung on Saturday on his arrival from Malaysia.

He has been discharged with advice for home quarantine and doctors believe that he did not fit into the clinical definition of SARS suspects.

Chinese Minister axed

P. S. Suryanarayana reports from Singapore: To win the confidence of the international community, China today wielded the political axe in the battle against the SARS, even as the new disease claimed more lives and threatened to spiral into a regional crisis. The country's Health Minister, Zhang Wenkang, and Beijing's Mayor, Meng Xuenong, were sacked from their positions in the powerful Communist Party of China. While the World Health Organisation welcomed Beijing's new acknowledgement of the severity of the disease, the death roll rose to 79 in mainland China and 88 in Hong Kong.

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