The first patient suspected of contracting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has left hospital after two tests proved negative of coronavirus, according to the Press Office Friday.
The office confirmed that the patient, a 38-year-old sales lady, left the Government Hospital Thursday. The Health Service of Macaohas reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) to write off its only suspected SARS case listed on the counting.
The woman first went to the emergency room of the hospital on April 16, when she started to get a fever. Since X-ray images did not show any signs of pneumonia, she was advised to rest at home, isolate herself from others, and consult doctors if symptoms continued.
She went to the hospital again on April 20, when X-ray images of her lungs revealed signs of pneumonia while the level of white blood cells did not rise, which suggested the possibility of SARS.The patient was soon admitted to the isolation ward in the hospital for further diagnosis, and her respiratory secretion sample was sent to Hong Kong for SARS testing.
Still left in the hospital's isolation wards are three patients including two men, aged 77 and 54, and a 42-year-old Australian man. Lei Chin Ion, head of the hospital, said they were all in a stable condition and recovered from high fever. None of them has been rated as suspected SARS patients.
(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2003)
