The Hindu : 2 with SARS symptoms quarantined

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 24, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

2 with SARS symptoms quarantined

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE April 23. Two persons with suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)- like symptoms were reported in Manipal Hospital, the hospital authorities said here on Wednesday.

A 24-year-old man, who arrived here from Montreal in Canada around a week ago, came to the hospital on Tuesday night, complaining of fever and body pain. He is here with his wife on a holiday and has been staying at a resort on the outskirts of the City. As he had travelled from a SARS-affected country and showed SARS-like symptoms, he has been quarantined and is being kept under observation in the isolation ward of the hospital.

The results of his blood and sputum tests to find out whether he is infected by the SARS-causing Corona virus is awaited in a day or two. "We are sure that the results of the test will be negative, as the patient's chest X-ray was clear. But we are just taking the necessary precautions as directed by the Union Government,'' Malathi, Medical Administrator of the hospital, said.

The other case was that of a school-going boy who came to the City from Singapore. He was quarantined in the isolation ward as he had fever and cough. But apparently, he did not have SARS as his test results were negative, hospital authorities informed.

However, there appears to be confusion as the Government health authorities said they were not informed about the case of the boy.

All suspected SARS cases have to be immediately reported to the SARS nodal officer or the health officials. Kumaraswamy, Additional Director (Communicable Diseases), Department of Health and Family Welfare, who is the nodal officer, told The Hindu that he was not aware that such a case was reported. "None of the Government health officials who are dealing with SARS have been informed about this case by the hospital authorities,'' he said.

The hospital claims to have developed a SARS diagnostic kit. The test is said to be based on the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique for detecting the presence of the virus in the patient's blood and sputum. "The test is a modified version of a similar one developed at a medical institute in Hamburg, Germany, and meets the specification of the World Health Organisation (WHO)," the hospital authorities said. The Government authorities are not convinced. "As per Union Government specifications, the blood and sputum samples taken from patients have to be sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), Delhi, or the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, as these are the recognised institutions for testing the SARS virus,'' Dr. Kumaraswamy said.

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