Front Page   

Three SARS cases in Pune

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI April 21. Three persons — a man who recently returned from Jakarta, his mother and sister — have been quarantined in a Government hospital in Pune, with each of them testing positive for the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in at least one test. Stanley D'Silva, came up positive in a confirmatory test, the Maharashtra Health Minister, Digvijay Khanvilkar, said today.

He later told The Hindu that the second confirmatory test on the mother, Vimla, and the sister, Julia, from the National Institute of Virology was also positive, but they are better.

All three have been quarantined, though Mr. D'Silva was described by officials as "having recovered". Ms. Julia, who was scheduled to get married today, had only mild symptoms and was discharged on April 19 at an outpatient department of a private hospital. But the Government machinery isolated her as well.

Meanwhile, Ms. Julia is said to have slipped out of her house — where she was required to get into quarantine — to get married. When contacted late in the night, Mr. Khanvilkar said: "If that was really so, I would have this matter probed. How did that happen? It should not have happened."

Mr. Khanvilkar said the D'Silvas were returning to India from Jakarta on April 8 on the same plane in which a person with strong symptoms of SARS was also travelling from Bangkok to Singapore and was off-loaded. Mr. D'Silva and his mother apparently caught the infection then.

The mother had sought medical help on April 19, the day Julia D'Silva was "sent off since she had recovered and had only mild symptoms."

Related Stories:
SARS suspects test negative for virus
Fear over SARS stalks more countries
Mutated virus strikes?

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

Front Page

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

Stories in this Section

• Mayawati's 'governance' draws flak in Parliament
• Mulayam's arrest stayed
• India, China agree to sustain bilateral cooperation
• Blackwill quits, to return to Harvard
• Vohra begins his mission in Kashmir
• Three SARS cases in Pune
• LTTE suspends talks
• SARS patient weds, guests quarantined
• BJP keen on ending truckers' stir
• Jay Garner in Baghdad
• Togadia gets bail
• U.P. Cabinet reshuffle
• Bridegroom shot at

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