Suspected SARS cases cleared

Five patients who developed fever at the same Hong Kong hospital where the city’s first SARS outbreak took hold last year have been cleared of the deadly disease, health chiefs stated on Tuesday.

Five patients who developed fever at the same Hong Kong hospital where the city’s first SARS outbreak took hold last year have been cleared of the deadly disease, health chiefs stated on Tuesday.However, a hospital statement said it was still waiting on the results of tests on another five patients, of whom two were being X-rayed after being diagnosed with pneumonia-like symptoms. The five cleared of SARS had also tested negative for bird flu, the statement said. The 10 patients of ward 8A of Prince of Wales Hospital were put under surveillance after developing fevers on Monday. The Health Department said no sickness had been reported among hospital staff, as had happened last spring when the first Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome patients were treated at the hospital. (Source: AFP, ABC Health News, Feb 2004)