South China reports another suspected SARS case

cctv.com 01-08-2004 13:36

A waitress was confirmed Thursday to be China's mainland's another suspected SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) case since July in Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong Province, local health authorities said.

The newly found suspected SARS patient, a 20-year-old restaurant waitress, was now under quarantine and receiving treatment in the Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital.

The waitress from central Henan Province reported symptoms of fever on Dec. 26, 2003 and she went to the doctors at the Yuexiu District Bone Setting Hospital on Dec. 31. She was transferred to Yuexiu No. 1 People's Hospital after blood testing and X-ray scanning.

She was confirmed to be the suspected SARS case by the province's joint SARS medical team according to the SARS diagnosis program defined by the Ministry of Health.

The temperature of the suspected SARS patient has remained normal for seven consecutive days and authorities have stepped up protective measures for the medical staff, local health officials said.

Medical experts on SARS in the province had begun disinfections of the patient's living environment and 48 people who had close contact with the waitress have been quarantined and found no symptoms of fever so far, they said.

Meanwhile, another 52 people who had contact with the suspected SARS case were also under close medical observation, they said.

The first confirmed SARS patient in China's mainland after the spring outbreak of the epidemic in 2003, a 32-year-old freelance TV worker, was discharged from hospital in Guangzhou also on Thursday.

Editor:Zheng  Source:Xinhuanet