China reported four new suspected cases of SARS in the capital on
Sunday, two days after the confirmation of two cases linked to a
Beijing research lab.?All the?new suspected cases have
been traced back to the same patient, the Ministry of Health said.
The announcement brought the total number of cases during the
past week to two confirmed and six suspected. The new suspected
cases are the father, mother, aunt and roommate of a 20-year-old
confirmed SARS patient in Beijing, the ministry said.
The other confirmed case of the past week is a 26-year-old
medical student in the southern province of Anhui.
Body temperature of the patient in Anhui has restored to normal
level, said a local official.
The patient, with surname Song, is now receiving treatment in
the No. 1 Affiliated Hospital with the Anhui Medical University
(AMU), said Zhang Xuejun, President of the AMU.
On Friday night, Song's body temperature was 37.5 degrees
Celsius. It went down to 36.5 degrees Celsius Saturday morning,
said Zhang.
Song has a good appetite and ate half egg, half bread and some
soybean milk as breakfast Saturday morning, said Zhang. Song also
began to use her mobile phone to send messages to relatives and
friends.
Song is a 26-year-old female postgraduate at AMU. She studied in
Beijing at a laboratory of the institute of virus diseases under
the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) from
March 7 to 22.
On March 23, Song went back to Hefei, capital of Anhui, by train
and then returned to Beijing by train after complaining of fever on
March 25. Later Song went to see doctors at Beijing and Huainan
City of Anhui Province. On April 4, she was transferred to the No.
1 Affiliated Hospital with the Anhui Medical University for viral
pneumonia.
Song's mother was another suspected case in Anhui. She died on
April 19.
The new SARS cases was caused by a laboratory infection,
officials say.
As early warning systems for SARS kicked into gear across the
country. The silver lining, say health experts, is the fact that
the virus comes from a laboratory which reduces the risk of people
being infected.
"We have adopted effective measures to prevent the spread of the
virus. SARS cases in Beijing will not influence any visit from
overseas," Jin Dapeng, director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of
Health vowed Friday.
A 20-year-old nurse surnamed Li was the first reported case on
Thursday but she was not the first person infected, officials said
Friday.
Emergency circular issued on SARS
prevention
The Tourism Administration in east China's Anhui Province has
issued an emergency circular calling for all local subordinate
sectors to take immediate action to prevent the spread of SARS,
especially during the upcoming May Day holidays.
The calls came after one diagnosed SARS case and one suspected
SARS case were reported Friday in the province, where is the
renowned scenic Mount Huangshan. The province has launched a SARS
early warning and prevention system accordingly.
Both local anti-SARS work headquarters and the administration
convened emergency meetings Friday to start up preparatory measures
to fight against the highly contagious disease.
Tourism departments in Hefei, capital of the province,
Huainan,Huangshan and Chizhou cities are required as scheduled to
stand on duty around the clock, with those in other cities across
the province to keep channels open for information.
Any fever cases are required to be reported immediately, and the
administration announced its full readiness to deal with
emergencies with its anti-SARS office open around the clock.
?(China Daily April 25, 2004)