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SARS family quarantined

By Our Staff Reporter

VELLORE April 25. All 14 family members of 40-year-old Ezhumalai, who is suspected to be affected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and admitted to an isolation ward in the Christian Medical College Hospital here yesterday, have been quarantined by the Public Health department in their house at Sandhavasal in Tiruvannamalai district.

However, Kurien Thomas, professor of medicine and Anand Job, Hospital Medical Superintendent told newspersons here yesterday that there was no need to panic, as the patient was kept in an isolation ward only as a precautionary measure, as he returned recently from Singapore. Doctors, nurses and other para-medical staff attending on him were wearing N-95 masks, gloves and gowns.

The patient developed early symptoms such as cold, cough and fever only in the past four or five days.

Dr.Thomas said while fever with a temperature of more than 100.4 degrees F, cold, cough and shortness of breath were the early symptoms, Mr. Ezhumalai did not have any breathing difficulty, which was an important symptom. He had only fever, cold and cough, and, after medication, the fever came down.

The hospital was taking steps to acquire Polymerised Chain Reaction (PCR) test materials, required for testing a patient for SARS. Dr.Thomas said as of now there was no definite cure or recommended medication for the SARS. The hospital could only provide respiratory support. Asked about the possibility of the disease spreading, Brammadathan, microbiology professor, said the disease spread through air when the patient coughed, but transmitted to others only in a 5-feet radius. Addressing a separate press conference, the Collector, A.C.Mohandoss, said Mr. Ezhumalai was thoroughly screened by airport health authorities on his arrival from Singapore at the Chennai International Airport. Only as a precautionary measure, the patient was kept in an isolation ward.

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