No SARS Virus Detected in Japanese Bus Driver

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, May 19, 2003

No SARS Virus Detected in Japanese Bus Driver

Tests found no SARS virus in a Japanese bus driver who traveled with a SARS-infected doctor from China's Taiwan province, the Japanese government announced Monday.

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Tests found no SARS virus in a Japanese bus driver who traveled with a SARS-infected doctor from China's Taiwan province, the Japanese government announced Monday.

The bus driver underwent genetic tests, which found he has no severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) infection, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.

The National Institution of Infectious Diseases examined the driver's sputum and municipalities will continue to closely observe his condition.

The driver traveled with the tour group on a chartered bus fromMay 10 to 13, mainly in the Kansai region in western Japan, and that the doctor was sitting two to three meters behind the driver during the period.

Doctors believe the driver's fever is due to chronic respiratory disease and his fever has gone down.

In addition, two guests who stayed separately in two hotels which the doctor had checked in have come down with fever but are now under recovery, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.

The ministry also released Sunday names of four hotels that theinfected doctor had lodged in during his trip in Japan.

One of the hotels has decided to suspend operation until Wednesday, and all of they have announced refusal to guests from countries or regions hard hit by SARS.

The doctor traveled through Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Tokushima and Kagawa prefectures in western Japan from May 8 to 13. He did not have a fever when he returned to Taian Tuesday, but started showing SARS-like symptoms two days later and was confirmed with the disease on Saturday.

The doctor treated patients with SARS before arriving in Japan,the ministry said.

The disclosure of the doctor's itinerary came after the government has received a swarm of phone calls asking for the details.

The Japanese government has targeted 2,421 people who probably had contact with the doctor, and has traced down 1,720, among whom11 were found to have fever except the three cases above.

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