Medical experts in Shanghai involved in diagnosing severe acute
respiratory syndrome (
SARS)
said facts have shown Shanghai's SARS diagnosis standards are
scientific and correct.
Professor Wu Shanming with the Shanghai Infectious Disease Hospital
said that seven of the eight confirmed SARS patients by Thursday
were imported from outside China, and the remaining one was
infected by the patient's son in Shanghai.
"That is very important for us in diagnosing suspected cases and
determining SARS cases," said Wu, also a member of the
municipality's SARS Diagnosis Experts Panel.
According to the standards Shanghai has set, before classifying a
patient as a suspected SARS case, the person should have had known
contact with a SARS patient and a fever and cough, in addition to a
lowered white-blood-cell count and suspicious spots on a chest
X-ray, said Wu.
The panel will also classify as suspected SARS cases those with a
body temperature higher than 38.5 degrees centigrade, with obvious
symptoms and in a critical situation, but also with known contact
with a SARS patient.
They will additionally classify as suspected SARS cases those who
have had no contact with a SARS patient and are not in critical
situation, but who cannot prove they have other diseases, said
Wu.
Shanghai reported 84 suspected SARS cases by May 22 with only four
later confirmed to be SARS patients, and the remaining 80 were
classified as non-SARS cases, said the professor.
Citing an example, Wu said it took them more than a month to
determine a suspected case as SARS case, since he tested negative
for the SARS virus at first but turned positive about a month later
after hospitalization. That was the seventh SARS case.
The eighth SARS case was confirmed in less than 24 hours after the
patient fell ill on May 21 shortly after arriving in the city at
9:20 a.m. from Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.
The patient was declared a SARS suspect at 9:00 p.m. the same day
and was confirmed as a SARS case by the panel according to the
chest X-ray.
Professor Weng Xinhua, another member of the panel, said Shanghai
was implementing the standards on suspected SARS cases to the
letter.
Xu
Jinming, a doctor with the Shanghai Lung Hospital, a designated
hospital for SARS patients, said facts showed the existing
diagnosis standards for suspected and confirmed SARS cases are
scientific and correct.
(China Daily May 25, 2003)