'SARS' family may be released

News.com.au By Jewel Topsfield 06Apr03

ISABELLE Hogarth, one of four suspected SARS victims in Melbourne, turned four today in an isolation ward at Monash Medical Centre.

"I want to go home," she yelled through the glass walls.

"I want to ride my bike," her six-year-old brother Thomas chimed in.

Isabelle, Thomas, 18-month-old Jack and their parents David and Deb have been in the isolation unit since Thursday night, after all three children developed symptoms of the deadly SARS virus, including high fevers and coughs.

The Australian-born family, who were on holidays from Toronto, Canada, arrived in Melbourne last Sunday.

"The walls are definitely closing in around us," Mr Hogarth said wearily.

"All I'd like to say is that the children are fine, a little bit tired, and the medical staff have been wonderful."

Professor Richard Doherty, the treating doctor at Monash Medical Centre, said he was very pleased with the children's condition.

He was hopeful they would be discharged tomorrow.

"I had the opportunity to talk to the head of respiratory diseases for public health in Canada and one of the senior treating doctors for the SARS cases at the children's hospital in Toronto and we're all pretty comfortable these children would not have been classified as SARS (cases) in Canada," Prof Doherty said.

But he said SARS could not be ruled out unless they had an alternative diagnosis.

"It remains possible in the absence of a firm diagnosis they had mild SARS and are now getting better," Prof Doherty said.

The dilemma facing Monash Medical Centre is that no-one knows whether a SARS victim could potentially spread the virus even though they appeared to have recovered.

"We have to strike a balance between keeping someone in hospital for public health reasons and getting them out of hospital for economic, social, personal and medical reasons," Prof Doherty said.

"I'm really hopeful we will be on solid grounds to be able to discharge tomorrow but I can't promise."

Meanwhile, a two-year-old girl who was rushed to Monash Medical Centre with suspected SARS late yesterday remains in an isolation unit.

The girl, whose name has not been released, arrived in Australia from north Hanoi in Vietnam yesterday.

Prof Doherty said she had responded extremely well to antibiotics and her fever seemed to have disappeared.

However, her case was still considered "fairly serious" because several SARS cases had been reported in Vietnam.

Prof Doherty said communication had been difficult because the mother did not speak fluent English and the child was bewildered.

"She seems well but as you can imagine she is a little girl whose mum doesn't speak good English and she is finding the circumstances fairly terrifying and she's fairly upset," he said.

Prof Doherty said testing was continuing and he was hopeful an alternative diagnosis would be made.

This report appears on news.com.au.