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Airports on alert for SARS

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The Federal Government will place medical officials at every international airport in Australia in response to the international outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The Federal Government will place medical officials at every international airport in Australia in response to the international outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). All airline pilots entering Australia will be required to ask passengers if they are presenting any symptoms of illness. If a passenger is unwell, medical professionals will board the plane before others are able to disembark. The chief health officer, Professor Richard Smallwood, says passengers showing signs of the illness will be quarantined. Health authorities say an epidemic of the SARS virus in Australia is unlikely, despite the treatment of up to seven suspected cases in Australia.Worldwide more than 2,000 people have been infected with the mystery pneumonia and 70 people have died.Three Canadian children visiting Australia are being treated in isolation at Melbourne’s Monash Medical Centre after displaying symptoms of the disease.The other suspected cases are in New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory.Chairman of infection control at the medical centre Professor Stephen Blamey says he is hopeful tests will show the children in Melbourne do not have SARS, but until then strict precautions must be taken.”The children meet the criteria to be a probable case of SARS but there are a number of diagnoses that could be entertained in this sort of situation,” he said.Meantime, members of the Australian Sevens rugby union team have been confirmed as all clear after undergoing follow-up medical checks for the symptoms of SARS today. The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) sent a doctor with the team to last week’s Hong Kong Sevens tournament so that the players could be briefed and monitored on a daily basis. The players were also given a precautionary medical check before they returned home on Monday. The ARU says none of the players have been experiencing symptoms of the virus.It says the follow-up medical checks of players in Sydney and Brisbane today have been additional precautionary measures.(Source: ABC Online)


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Dates

Posted On: 7 April, 2003
Modified On: 5 December, 2013


Created by: myVMC