Two Australian youth admitted in the Andhra Pradesh Chest Hospital in Hyderabad for suspected Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome are recovering and hospital authorities say the preliminary tests had ruled out SARS.
Wilcox Luke Charles (19) and Robert Jason Goodall (18)were admitted to hospital on Saturday. They have been admitted in an isolation ward.
They had travelled by air from Australia to Mumbai via Thailand and arrived in Hyderabad by train on April 26.
Hospital Superintendent Dr K Venu, who is the chief SARS coordinator for the state, on Sunday morning said, "Both the patients are recovering. They are not suffering from respiratory distress and their chest X-rays have shown that their lungs are clear."
Apart from these two, state health authorities conducted a medical check-up of as many as 97 persons -- 74 foreigners staying at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) hostel in Secunderabad and 23 other foreigners lodged in private accommodation in the Mahendra Hills locality, since the two Australians had come in contact with them.
However, none of them showed any symptoms of SARS.
Twenty-nine of them had come along with Goodall and Charles.
"There is no need for alarm. They are free to move around," the Chest Hospital superintendent said.
"Charles, who hails from Adelaide, had high-grade fever (104 degrees Fahrenheit), dry cough, mucous secretions, watering from the nose, and vomiting. Fearing gastro-enteritis, he approached Global Hospital."
Jason, who is from Perth, also had fever (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit), cough and a sore throat. He also approached Global Hospital."
"After a preliminary diagnosis, both were referred to Chest Hospital, which is the nodal hospital for suspected SARS cases in the city," Dr Venu explained.
"Tests revealed that Charles had pulse rate of 110, blood pressure of 140/80. The X-rays for both of them were normal. Since the preliminary tests were only supportive ones, not definitive, we are treating them as suspected SARS cases. We have taken blood samples for further investigations (that is, confirmatory tests)," he said.
"Goodall's temperature is almost normal while Charles' temperature came down to 102 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday morning."
"We have sent a report to the Director-General of Health Services and sought permission to discharge them if the confirmatory test reports from National Institute of Virology, Pune, rule out SARS," he added.