Guangdong reports 2nd suspected SARS case

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 09, 2004

Guangdong reports 2nd suspected SARS case

Another suspected case of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in China's mainland was reported Thursday in Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong province.

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Another suspected case of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in China's mainland was reported Thursday in Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong province.

The 20-year-old waitress was found as the suspected SARS case by the province's joint SARS medical team according to the SARS diagnosis program defined by the Ministry of Health.

She was now under quarantine and receiving treatment in the Guangzhou No. 8 People's Hospital, said local health authorities, adding that 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.

The woman whose surname has not been released reported having afever on Dec. 26, 2003 and went to the doctors at the Yuexiu District Bone Setting Hospital on Dec. 31 and was transferred to Yuexiu No. 1 People's Hospital after blood testing and X-ray scanning.

Medical experts on SARS in the province had begun disinfection 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 suspectedSARS case were also under close medical observation, they said.

Also on Thursday, 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 surnamed Luo, was discharged from hospital in Guangzhou.

Luo had complained of a headache, fever and cough on Dec. 16 and was admitted to an isolation room at the No. 1 Hospital of theGuangzhou-based Zhongshan University on Dec. 20. He was transferred to the No. 8 People's Hospital on Dec. 24, and has hada normal temperature ever since.

On Jan. 5, Luo was confirmed as the Chinese mainland's first diagnosed SARS case since last July.

Research has shown that the civet cat is most probably one of the carriers of the coronavirus causing SARS as tests indicate it shares a similar genetic structure with human SARS coronavirus.

The Guangdong provincial center for diseases control and prevention (CDC) announced that experts from the University of Hong Kong had found large quantities of the SARS-like coronavirus in civet cats and other wildlife collected from markets in Guangzhou and Shenzhen cities. The province has launched a campaign to kill about 10,000 civet cats to eliminate a possible source of SARS.

Experts have called for earlier SARS-prevention measures and improved administration of civet cats, badgers, raccoon dogs and other animals, so as to reduce the chance of contracting the SARS virus from wildlife.

China's transportation sector is taking measures to prevent anypossible spread of SARS during the Spring Festival travel peak that started Wednesday.

It has been forecast that during the 40-day transportation peakseason about 1.89 billion journeys will be made by rail, road, ship and air, 60 million more than in the same period of last year.

China's Vice-Minister of Communications Feng Zhenglin has said the huge number of migrant workers, students and travelers during the holiday is increasing the transportation difficulties, and the emergence of the one confirmed case of SARS in southern China has also put more pressure on this sector in the aspect of passenger security.

The Ministry of Railways has urged local railway stations to keep on the alert against SARS, and test every passenger's temperature.

Source: Xinhua

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