| Indian sailors do not have SARS: HK doctors | |
| Associated Press Hong Kong, May 4 |
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New SARS cases in Hong Kong dropped into the single digits on Sunday and worries of an outbreak at sea turned out to be a false alarm after doctors brought 10 Indian sailors ashore and found no traces of the disease. Hong Kong reported five new SARS deaths, for a total of 184. But hospital officials also announced that none of the 12 recovered Hong Kong SARS patients who became ill again had suffered relapses, as had been feared earlier. Health officials in white full-body protective gear boarded the Malaysian ship Bunga Melawis Satu on Sunday to check all 24 crew members, after 10 had complained earlier of SARS-like symptoms and the captain made an emergency stop in Hong Kong waters. The ship had recently been in three places that have suffered SARS fatalities: Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. But after the 10 seamen were taken to Hong Kong's Princess Margaret hospital and underwent screening including chest X-rays and blood tests, doctors said they were clear of SARS. The sailors apparently were being sent back to the ship. Hong Kong officials had ordered 14 other crew members to remain in quarantine aboard their vessel for 10 days, but they had said the order would probably be revised if no SARS cases were detected. The Health Department did not immediately respond to inquiries about what will now happen to the ship, which was carrying a cargo of chemicals from Thailand to the mainland Chinese city of Guangzhou. The ten seamen brought ashore had complained of fever several days earlier, and some had symptoms including dry coughs and muscle and joint paines, which can occur in SARS cases. |
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