New suspected case of killer virus
British doctors and scientists were working today to establish whether a woman who fell ill after returning from Singapore is the fourth suspected case of the killer SARS virus in the UK.
A spokesman for Britain's Health Protection Agency’s Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre revealed yesterday that a new suspected case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome had been reported.
The woman returned to the UK from Singapore on March 25. She was admitted to hospital in the north of England on April 2.
Three other people with suspected SARS, who were treated in London hospitals, have been discharged after making a full recovery.
The woman did not have SARS symptoms on her return flight to England.
A statement from the Health Protection Agency and the Department of Health said: “A fourth suspected case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has been reported to the Health Protection Agency’s Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre.
“This most recent case is in a woman who returned to the UK from Singapore on March 25, and was admitted to hospital in the north of England on April 2.
“She has been treated in isolation as a precautionary measure and her condition is improving.
“Other people who were in close contact with her in the UK are being monitored but there is no evidence of ill-health among these individuals.”
The exact cause of the illness has not yet been identified but symptoms include fever, aches, dry cough and shortness of breath.
The Health Department has advised Britons not to travel to Hong Kong, which has seen more than 700 cases and up to 20 deaths, or the Guangdong province of China.
US President George Bush signed an order on Friday adding SARS to the list of diseases for which people in America can be quarantined.
Guangdong accounts for 40 of the 49 deaths reported in China. The first case was recorded in November and since then more than 1,100 people in the province have fallen ill.
The figures are rising and so far the virus has infected 2,416 people in 18 countries and killed 89 people, according to the World Health Organisation.
There have been 63 new cases and five deaths in the last 24 hours – three in Hong Kong, one in Singapore, and the first case in Malaysia.
Outside Asia, Canada has been the worst hit with health authorities now dealing with 163 probable and suspect cases of SARS in the province of Ontario.
Eight people have now died of the mystery bug in Toronto and a ninth death is under investigation.
An expert in health economics on Friday warned that the rapid spread of SARS could have “potentially disastrous consequences” for millions of people in Britain.
Malcolm Rees, of Buckingham University, said plans should be drawn up to stockpile drugs and treat people in their homes in case of a mass outbreak.
The Health Department issued an alert to all GPs, NHS trusts and public health workers with information about SARS symptoms and advice on management of probable cases.
Experts have not pinpointed the exact cause of SARS although 11 laboratories around the world are trying to find its source and create a diagnostic test.
Antibiotics do not appear to be effective against the bug, although the WHO said infection control methods were helping contain its spread.
It was thought that close contact with an infected person was needed for the infectious agent to spread from one person to another.
But the WHO said experts in Hong Kong have found there could be something in the environment that is also transferring the virus.
