The first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been detected in a patient in France, said the national health service (DGS) Tuesday.
"It is the first case in France," a DGS official said, identifying the illness as SARS, a fatal respiratory disease that has caused at least 17 deaths worldwide.
The infected man was taken to a hospital in Tourcoing, northern France, after his arrival on Sunday from Hanoi, capital of Vietnam,where he had been a medical worker at a French hospital, the official said.
Eleven other people, who have recently returned to France from Asia with SARS symptoms, are getting medical care, the official added.
The deadly illness has been spreading around the world after several cases of atypical pneumonia were diagnosed in southern China and many confirmed and suspected SARS cases reported from several Asian, European and North American countries and regions, such as Vietnam, Canada, Singapore, Argentina and China's Hong Kong and Macao.