Goa SARS case may be a false alarm

The first case of SARS in India may be a false alarm.

Just hours after addressing a press conference in Panaji on Thursday morning to declare the first confirmed case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome -- an atypical pneumonia that has claimed over 100 lives and triggered the wrost global health scare in recent times -- Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and his health minister met journalists again in the evening to say that the SARS case may be a 'false positive'.

Parrikar said whatever the victim was suffering from -- SARS or some other disesase -- he was cured now. However, taking into consideration the sensitivity of the case he was being kept in isolation at the Goa Medical College hospital.

The patient's parents and friends, who met him after he arrived in Goa on April 1 from a holiday tour of Hong Kong and Singapore, have been persuaded to stay away from public places.

The GMC has sent samples of his blood, serum, throat swab and urine for laboratory testing, this time to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Delhi.

Tests done earlier at the Institute of Virology, Pune on the samples were positive.

"There is a mismatch between the clinical and laboratory findings, and to the best of our knowledge, no other person has been infected. It is therefore not possible to say with certainty that the patient has SARS," an official communique said.

The chief minister said the incubation period of seven to ten days is already over and the patient -- a young marine engineer -- appears hale and hearty. His wife, who had been to Hong Kong and Singapore with him, has also not shown any symptoms of SARS, he added.

The marine engineer and his wife had been on a holiday trip to Hong Kong and Singapore between March 26 and 30. He stayed in Mumbai for three days before returning to Goa.

Since he was running slight temperature, his doctor referred him to the Goa Medical College in view of the global SARS alert and he was admitted to GMC's SARS ward.

He was discharged on April 10 and was put in isolation at his residence at Dhawali in Ponda taluka awaiting reports from Pune.

The reports came on Wednesday night. Since the tests were positive he was readmitted to the SARS ward in GMC.

The press release said the government decided to release the name of the patient in public interest, so that anyone who had come in contact with him would approach appropriate medical authorities.