Australia reports 1st SARS case

<a href=www.japantoday.com>Japan Today Tuesday, April 1, 2003 at 14:00 JST

SYDNEY — Australia notified the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday of its first suspected case of a deadly pneumonia that is sweeping the globe, Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Richard Smallwood said.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a mysterious illness first detected in Hanoi on Feb 26, which has claimed 58 lives and infected more than 1,600 people in 13 countries, according to the WHO.

The Australian man has been under investigation in New South Wales for some time, Smallwood said. There was no spread of SARS to any of his contacts.

"While the man had fully recovered, he fitted the WHO criteria for SARS and no other cause for his illness had been identified," he said in a statement.

The man returned to Australia on Feb 12 after spending two days in Singapore and was admitted to a Sydney hospital Feb 23 with a fever, cough, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing, Smallwood said. "He recovered after two weeks and was well when released from hospital. The classification of SARS was made retrospectively as the man had recovered before the health alert was released by the WHO on March 14."

Australian health authorities have investigated more than 30 suspected SARS cases in the past three weeks, but no other people were found to fit the WHO criteria, he said. "We still cannot be sure this person had SARS, but in the absence of other diagnosis, we thought it would be prudent to alert the WHO to this unusual case."

Australia has boosted its surveillance for SARS at its ports of entry and at public hospitals and doctors' surgeries, Smallwood said.

"I am convinced that our excellent public health infrastructure will quickly identify any potential case of SARS and the prompt implementation of infection control procedures will ensure that if a case does come into Australia, it will be isolated and contained," he said. (Kyodo News)

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