Officials say new Australian SARS cases unlikely to have SARS

Main Category: Flu / Cold / SARS
Article Date: 15 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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New South Wales (Australia) health authorities believe it is unlikely that two flight attendants in a Sydney hospital with SARS-like symptoms actually have the disease.

The two women arrived in Australia on a China Southern Airlines flight on Tuesday and were admitted to hospital with symptoms similar to the flu.

The state's acting director of communicable diseases, Dr Paul Armstrong, says initial tests suggest it is unlikely to be Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

'It's still very low but we're just taking the prudent route here and assuming that it is a possibility and ensuring that no transmission of whatever the virus is or whatever the illness is transmitted to other people,' he said.

'It looks like, from preliminary tests, that it's very unlikely to be SARS indeed.'

The New South Wales Government says the state's SARS taskforce has not been reconvened at this stage.

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