India reports first suspected case of SARS

Reuters Health Last Updated: 2003-04-07 15:02:56 -0400 (Reuters Health) By Jayashree Lengade

BOMBAY (Reuters) - Indian health authorities reported the first suspected case of the deadly SARS virus in the country on Monday, saying a U.S. citizen had taken ill after traveling to Bombay from China, where the disease originated.

"She's at a stage that we're suspecting that she may be infected with the virus," Dr. Subhash Salunkhe, director general for health services for the western state of Maharashtra, told Reuters in Bombay.

"It's not yet confirmed, we're still conducting tests. She's traveled and come from China, Thailand and Vietnam, all high risk countries for SARS."

He said the patient was admitted to the Kasturba Hospital on Monday evening and a team of doctors from the National Institute of Virology at the nearby city of Pune were on their way to Bombay to conduct more tests.

Salunkhe declined to give further details but added that the patient was stable.

"She's been kept in isolation now and she had come (in) with symptoms of fever and a sore throat," said a doctor treating the patient at the specialized hospital in central Bombay.

Symptoms of the pneumonia-like SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) include fever, coughing and breathing difficulties. The mortality rate is about three to four percent.

India is on high alert to prevent entry of the virus that has swept large parts of Asia and killed 100 people worldwide and infected more than 2,600.

Airport authorities have been screening passengers coming into the country and hospitals have been identified in major cities where travelers showing symptoms of the flu-like disease will be kept under observation.