- MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines
isolated a woman and her husband on suspicion she contracted SARS while
working as a maid in Hong Kong, but health officials said they would have
to wait until Wednesday to confirm whether she had the deadly virus.
-
- The 42-year-old Filipino woman was being treated for
atypical pneumonia and her husband had a fever and a cough. The doctor
who initially treated her was isolated as a precautionary measure but had
shown no symptoms.
-
- The Department of Health said in a statement Monday it
was "closely monitoring a suspected Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS) case."
-
- Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit told reporters the results
of tests on the woman for the flu-like virus that causes SARS would be
available within 48 hours.
-
- "We have to know if this pneumonia comes from SARS,"
said Dr Luningning Villa, a spokeswoman for the health department. "Now
she is still a suspected SARS case, not a probable case yet."
-
- The woman was being considered a potential SARS case
because of the X-ray findings of pneumonia and her history of travel from
Hong Kong, which was hit hard last year by an outbreak of the virus that
swept out of southern China and was carried around the world by travelers.
-
- Officials were tracing the contact history of the woman,
who arrived in her hometown south of Manila from Hong Kong on December
20 without showing any symptoms.
-
- She was given antibiotics by her doctor on December 24
after she developed a fever but was admitted to hospital and isolated when
she showed no improvement.
-
- Thousands of Filipino women work in Hong Kong as nurses
and domestic helpers, part of a diaspora of at least seven million overseas
workers who prop up the economy by sending money back to their families.
-
- During the SARS outbreak last year that killed about
800 people, the Philippines was able to limit its death toll to two by
beefing up screening at its borders.
-
- Fears of a resurgence over the northern winter have been
sparked by the infection of two medical researchers, one in Taiwan and
the other at a laboratory in Singapore.
-
- China confirmed Monday its first SARS case since a world
epidemic was declared over in July.
-
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