- (AFP) -- India, which has the world's second largest
population, has recorded its first confirmed case of the deadly SARS virus,
officials from the National Institute of Virology confirmed.
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- A 32-year-old Indian man in the western state of Goa
was in isolation in hospital after test results confirmed he had the disease,
officials said.
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- "We have received a sample from Goa and we have
diagnosed it positive for the coronavirus which is responsible for SARS,"
said Dr A.C. Mishra, director of the National Institute of Virology (NIV)
in the western city of Pune.
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- The man arrived in the western city of Bombay on April
1 after travelling in Singapore and Hong Kong, which have both been hit
hard by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), before going home
to Goa.
-
- He was not admitted to hospital until April 10 and was
released two days later when he responded to treatment, officials said.
-
- It was only on Wednesday evening that results of tests
on his samples carried out at the NIV showed he had SARS and he was put
back into isolation.
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- Officials admitted it had been a mistake to let him leave
hospital before the test results were known.
-
- "It was blunder to discharge the man before the
test results came through," said a senior health official in New Delhi,
who did not want to be identified.
-
- He said health officials were concerned about the possibility
the man could have spread the infection before he was diagnosed.
-
- Health Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters that the
patient was in Bombay for at least two days and met a number of people.
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- "All steps are being taken to prevent the spread
of the disease," she said.
-
- "We have kept him and his family in isolation. We
will try and quarantine all those who came in contact with him during the
period."
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- An official at Goa Medical College, where the man is
being treated, named him as Prashant Vardhe and said he was "out of
danger". Local media said he was a marine engineer.
-
- Dr Shiv Lal, a director in the directorate general of
health services in New Delhi, said the man had seen a doctor in Goa for
a cough and fever.
-
- "He was admitted to the isolation ward of Goa Medical
College on April 10," he told reporters.
-
- "He responded to antibiotic treatment, became asymptomatic
and was discharged on April 12," when his chest x-ray was normal,
Lal said.
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- Lal said the man had arrived in Hong Kong on March 26
and was there for four days before sailing to Singapore on March 30.
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- He flew to Bombay on April 1 and stayed there for about
three days, arriving in Goa on April 3 or 4.
-
- However, the Goa state government disputed the case in
a statement, saying the man's symptoms during clinical check-ups did not
match the laboratory findings.
-
- It added that neither the patient's family, nor others
with whom he had been in touch in Goa exhibited any symptoms of the disease.
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- "It would appear, therefore, that while the patient
does have a positive laboratory test, there is a mismatch between the clinical
findings and the laboratory findings," the Goa government said.
-
- "To the best of our knowledge, at present, no other
person has been infected. It is therefore not possible to say with full
certainty that the patient has SARS."
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- India has a billion-plus population, second only to China
with 1.2 billion, and limited resources to deal with any outbreak of the
deadly SARS virus.
-
- Meanwhile, health officials in New Delhi said a 42-year-old
New Zealand man was suspected of having SARS.
-
- The man, who arrived from Bangkok Wednesday night, had
complained of cough and fever and was sent to hospital.
-
- "Samples have been taken from this person and sent
to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Delhi. The report
is expected soon," an official said.
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