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First Probable SARS Case Downplayed

Web Page URL: http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200304/kt2003043017405410220.htm

By Soh Ji-young
Staff Reporter

Health-Welfare Minister Kim Hwa-joong said yesterday that the nation¡¯s first probable case of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is likely to be bacterial pneumonia and not SARS.

``The patient has received one day of antibiotics and has already have greatly recovered, with his temperature returning to normal and chest X-rays showing clean lungs,¡¯¡¯ Kim told reporters.

``Although we will have to wait two or three days to be sure, there is a big possibility that the patient has bacterial pneumonia,¡¯¡¯ she said, pointing out that SARS does not respond to antibiotic treatment.

The probable SARS patient is a man in his 40s who arrived from Beijing at Incheon International Airport at 11:50 a.m. Monday on a Chinese Airlines flight.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) announced that the man was a probable SARS case Tuesday as his symptoms corresponded with the criteria for the flu-like disease issued by the World Health Organization.

Officials said that if further tests show he has bacterial pneumonia, he will be taken off the list of probable SARS patients. The NIH¡¯s advisory committee will convene on Friday to determine whether the probable SARS patient should be viewed as an official SARS case based on reviews of his X-ray results, test samples and symptoms.

Meanwhile, health officials were busy yesterday checking the people who flew in on the same flight as the probable SARS patient.

Among the 90 travelers who were on board the flight, a total of 77 Koreans and one non-Korean had been contacted and were not showing symptoms of the disease, officials said.

Among them, a group of 54 employees who traveled as a group were instructed to stay at a condominium facility until the incubation period of the disease passes as a precaution.

Officials are searching for the whereabouts of the remaining three Korean and 10 non-Korean travelers who they had been unable to contact.

To effectively prevent an outbreak of SARS in the country, the NIH decided to receive police assistance in isolating people who are feared to have contracted the disease. Health officials will also pay daily visits to those who were instructed to stay at home to check their temperatures rather than monitoring them by phone.

The anti-SARS government task force yesterday requested domestic and foreign airlines to check the temperatures of passengers boarding in China and other SARS-affected areas.

Local physicians and those involved in the treatment of patients with fevers will also be required to report any suspected SARS cases to health authorities.

jysoh@koreatimes.co.kr
04-30-2003 17:41

SUMMARY

There is also a SARS (the severe acute respiratory syndrome) patient was discovered in Korea as well. The probable SARS patient is a man in his 40s who arrived from Beijing at Incheon International Airport at 11:50 a.m. Monday on a Chinese Airlines flight. The people who were in the same fight are also going through an examination for this disease. However most of them have been already judged that they do not have such a disease. Hence, Korea is not safe from this disaster as well.