First confirmed case of SARS in India

An Indian national has been confirmed as suffering from India's first case of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in Goa. An official at the state-run laboratory, The National Institute of Virology in Pune, tested the sample of a marine engineer who had returned recently from Singapore and was admitted to the Goa Medical College Hospital. The man and his wife have now been isolated and health officials are now trying to ascertain whether others have interacted with the couple.The Goa government has still not declared this as a confirmed case of SARS. It says there is a discrepancy between the lab tests and the physical examination of the patient. The patient was admitted to Goa Medical College on April 10 with fever and cough. He was discharged two days later after his chest x-ray was found to be normal and the fever had subsided.Also, last night a passenger at the Indira Gandhi International airport in the capital was admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital with symptoms suggestive of SARS. The 42-year-old patient is a resident of New Zealand, who reached Delhi on a Thai Airways flight on Wednesday after spending a fortnight in Bangkok. The patient has been shifted to a special isolated ward and the hospital has been put on full alert. However, doctors have said that confirmation of the disease could be done only after a couple of days.