M A I N   N E W S

Marine engineer brings SARS

A Chinese medical expert performs tests on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus at a laboratory in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province on Thursday. The Chinese government has started a highly publicised battle to stop the deadly SARS virus from spreading around the vast country. SARS has killed at least 65 persons and infected more than 1,445 in China — nearly half of the world's cases — since it first surfaced in southern Guangdong province in November. — Reuters photo

New Delhi, April 17
The first confirmed case of SARS, that has claimed 159 lives worldwide, has been reported from India, with a marine engineer warded in a hospital in Goa.

Simultaneously, a New Zealander has been admitted to a hospital here but it is not clear if he is actually suffering from SARS or is merely a suspect.

The 32-year-old marine engineer took ill on his return from Singapore and Hong Kong and eventually tested positive for SARS, Health Ministry officials said today.

Director-General of Health Services Dr S.P. Aggarwal told reporters today that the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune had confirmed the presence of a VIRUS that causes SARS in the Goa-based man (Name withheld).

The tests confirmation came yesterday night following which the patient was being kept in isolation at the Goa Medical College hospital, he said.

The engineer and his wife made a four-hour halt at Hong Kong on March 26. The couple then sailed to Singapore reaching there on March 30. On April 1, they reached Mumbai and spent three days there before reaching Goa.

In Goa on April 3, the engineer suffered a bout of fever and cough and consulted a doctor.

Realising the man was suffering from SARS-like symptoms, the doctor sent him to Goa Medical College. There he was isolated and responded normally to all medicines.

“After his X-ray report was found to be normal, he was discharged after two days. The same day his urine and other samples were sent to the NIV in Pune,” said Dr Aggarwal.

Yesterday night, after the tests at Pune confirmed that he was suffering from SARS, he was again taken to the hospital and promptly isolated.

Dr Aggarwal confirmed that the man’s “symptoms were mild”. His wife was free of the disease.

A two-member team from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) here has reached Goa to assist in the man’s treatment and to advise the state government.

“We have already informed all state governments what precautions should be taken,” Dr Aggarwal said.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, a senior health official, Mr B.M. Das, said the 42-year-old New Zealander who lives in Australia had halted in Bangkok for 13 hours on his way to India. He was admitted to a hospital yesterday night.

“When he reached the Delhi airport he was coughing and breathless and was immediately taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. He too has been kept in isolation,” Mr Das said. IANS