Woman with SARS symptoms released

Antelope Valley Press ^ | uly 19, 2003 | BOB WILSON

[BenLurkin]

LANCASTER - A female patient suspected of displaying symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome while at Antelope Valley Hospital has been released and is believed to be leaving the country, a physician said Friday.

The woman is one of 22 people in Los Angeles County who meet the criteria for being either "probable" or "suspected" SARS victims, said Dr. David Dassey, deputy chief of the county's Acute Communicable Disease Control Unit.

The woman was under hospital observation for SARS for several days, from about July 3 to about July 7, Dassey said.

No new cases have been reported to the county since her release, he said.

AV Hospital spokesman Ed Callahan confirmed Friday that a patient with respiratory problems was watched carefully for SARS symptoms over the Independence Day weekend.

"We did have someone we suspected (of showing signs of SARS) but it was never confirmed, and it was never raised to the level of probable status" under guidelines issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga., Callahan said.

After determining that the patient did not have the requisite symptoms, that person was released after showing improvements, he said.

The hospital followed the guidelines issued by the county's Department of Health Services concerning the person's care "and the system worked," Callahan said.

Because of increased awareness of the SARS issue, patients with respiratory problems are observed carefully, he said.

But the same symptoms listed for SARS often are part of other illnesses, such as the flu, Callahan said.

However, those placed under observation because of respiratory symptoms should not be immediately categorized as potential SARS victims, he said.

After being released from AV Hospital, the woman "remained at home under home isolation," Dassey said.

Each day, unit representatives called to check on the health of the woman as well as those around her, he said.

Unit representatives also called the hospital to check on the health of those who helped care for the woman, the doctor said.

To qualify for observation, people must display signs of respiratory illness with a temperature greater than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, plus either coughing, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or an abnormal chest X-ray, as well as have a record of travel to an area where the transmission of SARS is suspected or documented or close contact with another person known or suspected to have SARS.

At AV Hospital, the patient registered a high temperature and both a cough and an abnormal chest X-ray, Dassey said.

In this case, he may never know whether the woman had SARS because she has left the United States to return to her home country, the physician said.

With her departure, she will be one of eight people whose results will be unknown either because they have refused testing or become unavailable for testing, Dassey said.

Of the remaining 14 on the county's list, one other is expected to leave the area before final results are known, he said.

Test results on two are expected to return, and if both are negative, they will join 11 others whose results have been determined and recorded, Dassey said.

None of those who have come to the county's attention have been diagnosed as actually having the disease, he said.

As of July 15, 418 people in the United States had been suspected as possibly having SARS, but only eight had tested positive for the illness, Dassey noted.

Of those eight, two victims were from California, but none from Los Angeles County.

[EggsAckley]

Leaving the country BEFORE the test results are known?? Are these illegals who are high-tailing it to avoid the INS?

[Steely Glint]

My God, these people are stupid.