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India's first SARS case found in Goa
By Aarti Dhar
The patient, who sailed from Hong Kong to Mumbai, reached Goa on April 1 and has been readmitted to the Goa Medical College Hospital from where he was discharged on April 14. He has been quarantined though he is asymptomatic now and is not infective anymore. The case has been confirmed by the Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research.
The Union Health Minister, Sushma Swaraj, reviewed the situation here today after the patient's blood, urine and sputum sample report was made available by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology late last evening. The person tested positive for the SARS causing corona virus and he had been brought back to the hospital, the Director-General of Health Services, S.P. Aggarwal, told reporters here today.
However, the patient's family, including his wife and father, who had travelled with him to Hong Kong, did not show symptoms of the disease. They had been asked to decrease their contact with him, as also their social and business interaction, Dr. Aggarwal said.
The medical and para-medical staff who had attended on the patient have been advised home-quarantine as a precautionary measure. The country was fully prepared to tackle the disease. Two senior Joint Directors of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Delhi have left for Pune to investigate the case, he said.
Meanwhile, an Australian, who landed here last night, was admitted to the RML Hospital with SARS-like symptoms of fever, cough and mild shortness of breath today.
Dr. Aggarwal said the Goa patient, along with his family, had stopped over at Hong Kong for four hours on March 26 from where they went to Singapore. They then sailed to Mumbai, arriving there on April 1. After staying there for a couple of days, they left for Goa, where the patient developed fever and cough. He went to see a private physician on April 8, who referred him to the Goa Medical College Hospital. Neither did his chest X-ray show any patches of thoracic-pneumonia nor did he have fever.
Dr. Aggarwal said the patient was hospitalised on April 10 and after a couple of days he was discharged.
He had responded to normal antibiotic therapy and was absolutely fine, though he was advised "home-quarantine". His blood, sputum and urine samples were sent for testing on April 14. The laboratory report showed he was positive for the SARS virus.
CM for second opinion
PANAJI, APRIL 17. As Goa reported the first confirmed case of SARS in India, the Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, said at a press meet later in the day that the blood and other samples of the patient would be sent to National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) tomorrow for a second opinion.
``The blood, serum, throat swab and urine samples of the 32-year-old marine engineer will be sent to the NICD tomorrow for a second opinion,'' Mr. Parrikar said at the hurriedly-called press conference here.
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