Toufiq Rashid
New Delhi, April 18: One more patient ‘‘assumed to be normal’’ by the health authorities has tested positive for SARS in the preliminary Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests.
The patient is a 42-year-old tourist from New Zealand who landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, from Bangkok at around 11 pm on Thursday night. He has been admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.
According to sources at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, New Delhi, the genetic sequencing is being matched and the results would be declared in the next 24 hours.
The New Zealander was moved to the hospital with symptoms such as cough and breathlessness. Even at today’s briefing, the officials in the Health Ministry declared him to be ‘not fitting in the WHO definition of the disease’ — just like they did in the case of Prashil Varde, the first SARS case in the country.
The official version this evening was the patient was ‘afebrile’ with no symptoms. ‘‘His X-ray is normal and he has no fever,’’ they said. According to sources at the airport, the patient had attracted attention of the doctors at the health counters as he showed breathlessness. According to the NICD, the passenger had travelled to Australia where he stayed in New Port with his brother who was suspected to be infected and had been quarantined. He had also stayed in Bangkok for 13 hours before flying to India.
Meanwhile, a 7-year-old girl who had come from Beijing on April 5 has reported symptoms like cough and cold. The girl was first admitted to AIIMS and later moved to the Infectious Diseases Hospital. The NICD team took samples of blood and sputum and the girl was discharged as she ‘‘did not fit into the WHO defination of SARS.’’
‘‘The family from Sushant Lok in Gurgoan were working in Beijing and returned home after the SARS scare. She developed some symptoms and her parents took her to the hospital. She was discharged after a few hours of monitoring in the hospital,’’ said Dr Shiv Lal, director, NICD. SARS is being ruled out by the doctors though confirmatory reports are still awaited. ‘‘It has been 12 days since she landed in Delhi and the symptoms don’t fit the SARS case defination,’’ he said.
It seems that the Indian officials are trying to go by the WHO book, and two cases at least originally misled them into thinking it wasn't SARS. Hmmmm....