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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 23, 2003

SARS Testing Method Urgently Needed in Macao

Although a sample test result given by the Hong Kong health department to a Macao resident suggested negative of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Tuesday night,the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government still felt a hefty pressure to introduce SARS test method.


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Although a sample test result given by the Hong Kong health department to a Macao resident suggested negative of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Tuesday night, the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government still felt a hefty pressure to introduce SARS test method.

Macao, still a "safety island" immune of SARS after the viral pneumonia broke out in its neighboring regions for months, has been kept constantly alert by suspected SARS cases. The absence of SARS testing agent is still a technical nut for the 23.5-sq km SAR, because of a lack of the medical research power.

Lei Chin Ion, director of the Macao Government Hospital, disclosed Wednesday that Macao received a guarantee from the World Health Organization (WHO) in written form on April 15 to provide a timely supply of SARS testing agent, after the organization announced a standard testing method of SARS.

Lei said that currently there is no commercial SARS testing agent available on market. A variety of testing methods have been developed by different cities and countries in their own combat against the disease.

The result given by the Hong Kong Medical Department to the suspected SARS patient in Macao was made by PCR test, Lei said. "The test is not 100 percent reliable. There is a possibility for a mistaken test. Hence, a medical conclusion must be made by combining the test result with clinical observation," said Lei.

From epidemiological perspective, it is only a matter of time for SARS cases to emerge in Macao, although the government has taken conceivable preventive measures, said the doctor.

He said there is no need to be panic even if an individual case occurs. The government has worked out an emergency action plan, which would help constrain the disease within hospitals.

Taking Hong Kong's experience in the epidemic control, the Macao SAR government has made adequate preparations for isolated medical treatment of patients, Lei added.

Meanwhile, the Macao SARS taskforce, which has been set up to respond to coordinated SARS control, has decided on purchasing infrared thermometers to be installed at entry checkpoints, which are expected to quicken the medical checks at the entry ports. Macao began to measure visitors' body temperature upon their arrivals at customs since the just-closed Easter Holiday.

On Monday, a Dutch student was found to run a fever of 39.1 degree Celsius upon his arrival in Macao after a four-day visit in south China's Guangdong Province. He was quarantined for treatments and further tests for SARS, according to sources with the Health Bureau.

The patient's fever continued after being hospitalized. An X-ray image of his lungs had revealed localized infiltrate, and blood tests had suggested possibility of viral infection.


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