Sars

[Spellbound]

SKY NEWs in the UK have just put a news flash out,, 08.55am 30-March

4 Asians holiday makers confined to UK hospital with suspected SARS.

Will post here as the news develops.

[Spellbound]

8:49am (UK)

Four Taken to Hospital in SARS Scare

By Jude Sheerin, Scottish Press Association

Four people have been admitted to hospital in a suspected Sars outbreak, health chiefs said today.

The three Asian tourists and an ambulance driver were admitted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in the early hours of this morning.

They were being kept in isolation while doctors carried out tests to find out if they have the deadly virus.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2716003

[Spellbound]

PATIENTS GET ALL CLEAR

Four people admitted to hospital in Edinburgh suspected to be suffering with the Sars virus, have been given the all clear.

The three Asian tourists and an ambulance driver were admitted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in the early hours of this morning.

They were kept in isolation while doctors carried out tests to find out if they had the deadly virus.

Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital at Little France on the outskirts of the Scottish capital, said a public health response plan was activated.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome is believed to have an incubation period of up to 10 days, with flu-like symptoms, including fever and coughing.

Experts have said the best way to prevent the spread of the virus is to isolate sufferers and those in contact with them.

The first reports of an infection followed the death of a US businessman in a Hong Kong hospital in mid-March last year.

The outbreak is thought to have originated in China's southern Guangdong province, killing 774 people worldwide before it was contained.

There is no vaccine, although a cocktail of antivirals and antibiotics appears to be beneficial if treatment is started early.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1129369,00.html

[PvtDick]

No SARS alert at Edinburgh hospital

Tue 30 March, 2004 09:57

LONDON (Reuters) - Four patients who had been kept in isolation in an Edinburgh hospital have been released, the hospital says, after media reports speculated they might be suffering from the SARS virus.

"They were kept in isolation as a precautionary measure while investigations were being carried out. They have been released," an Edinburgh Royal Infirmary spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

"We never used the word SARS," she added.