Suspected SARS case found in Beijing By Zhang Feng (China Daily) Updated: 2004-04-23 00:00
A suspected case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was reported in Beijing Thursday.
Five people who had close contact with a 20-year-old nurse suspected of having contracted the virus have shown some SARS symptoms, such as fever, have been quarantined.
A suspected SARS patient surnamed Li talks with two doctors April 22, 2004 at Ditan Hospital in Beijing. She is 20 and works as a nurse in a Beijing hospital. [newsphoto]
A total of 171 people who have had close contact with the girl have been identified and put under medical observation.
The nurse, surnamed Li, and the other people with fever are being treated in Beijing's Ditan Hospital, which specializes in infectious diseases.
Since April 5, she has had a fever, coughing and other symptoms. She has been at the Jiangong Hospital, in Xuanwu District, Beijing, since April 7. Jiangong Hospital is a non-State-owned hospital near the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
On April 14, she was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of the Renmin Hospital affiliated with Peking University, which neighbours the Ministry of Health in Xicheng District.
Two days later, two relatives who accompanied the patient reported a fever so the hospital moved to put in place the early warning system for SARS.
The nurse was then moved to Ditan Hospital.
SARS virus antibodies were detected in her blood Thursday morning by Beijing's CDC. The discovery provides clinical evidence to label the case as suspected SARS, said Mao Qun'an, spokesman for the Ministry of Health.
"Epidemiology investigation of the possible SARS virus source, and further laboratory tests, such as virus separation from her body, are being done now, which are necessary to prove whether she is a confirmed SARS case," Mao told China Daily Thursday evening.
No report has been provided to show she has had contact with possible SARS virus sources, such as wild animals.
However, experts suspected that she might have become infected with the virus while caring for some SARS cases that have not been identified.
It is possible that she was identified as a suspected SARS case earlier than people she may have treated, said an expert who refused to give his name.
"The Beijing Office of World Health Organization (WHO) has been informed about the case and will work with China on the investigation into that," said spokesman Bob Dietz Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health also informed Hong Kong and Macao Thursday.
Strict disinfection measures have been taken by the three hospitals which have had contact with the nurse.
News of the suspected case spread quickly since Thursday morning. However, no wide panic has been stirred.
Starting today, the Ministry of Health will begin to report the latest developments at 4 pm every day.
This is the first suspected SARS case since the epidemic, which has seriously attacked the capital city last year, subsided in June.
The virus infected 5,327 people and killed 348 people last year.
Several people were infected in Guangdong earlier this year but there were no deaths.
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