Australia reports first case of killer virus

1.45pm

CANBERRA - Australia today reported its first suspected case of a flu-like virus that has killed over 60 people in recent weeks and infected almost 1,700 worldwide.

Australia's chief medical officer, Professor Richard Smallwood, said he had notified the World Health Organisation (WHO) of one case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) although the affected person was now well and had not infected anyone else.

"We still cannot be sure this person had SARS, but in the absence of other diagnosis, we thought it would be prudent to alert the WHO to this unusual case," Smallwood said in a statement.

Smallwood said the male patient had travelled back to Australia on February 12 after spending two days in Singapore and went to a hospital in Sydney on February 23 with a fever, cough, shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing.

He recovered after two weeks and was released from hospital. His illness fitted the WHO criteria for SARS that was spelled out in a health alert on March 14.

"There was no spread of SARS from this patient to his contacts," Smallwood said.

A spokeswoman from the Department of Health and Ageing was unable to give any further details of the patient.

The outbreak of SARS, which has no treatment yet, has sent a wave of panic across Asia, prompting people to cancel trips to the worst-hit countries and forcing some airlines, including Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd, to reduce flights.

Smallwood has tried to counter any panic in Australia by stressing that the illnesses' fatality rate of three to five per cent of cases is relatively low.

The WHO believes SARS is linked to a disease that broke out in China's southern province of Guangdong in November.

Deaths have been reported in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Canada, Singapore and Thailand. The virus has also shown up in Germany and now Australia.

Smallwood said Australian health authorities had investigated more than 30 suspected cases of SARS in the past three weeks but none were found to fit the WHO criteria except for the one man in Sydney, Australia's most populous city.

Two other people in the state of New South Wales and one person in the Australian Capital Territory, where Canberra is located, are currently under investigation.

Smallwood said Australia had intensified its surveillance for SARS both at ports of entry into Australia such as airports and at public hospitals and doctors' surgeries.

"I am convinced... the prompt implementation of infection control procedures will ensure that if a case does come into Australia, it will be isolated and contained," he said.

- REUTERS