A 25-year-old British woman who suffers from symptoms that matches the WHO descriptions of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) was hospitalized in an isolated care unit, a spokesman for the Macao Health Bureau said today (24 Mar).

This is the first patient found in Macao to be suspected of having contracted SARS. Samples of her blood and respiratory track secretion were sent to Hong Kong for further tests, said Dr. Tong Ka Io, Head of the Disease Prevention and Control Center under the Macao Special Administrative Region Health Bureau.

According to Dr. Tong, the 25-year-old patient came from Britain to Macao over a month ago, scheduled to take up a teaching job in Macao shortly.

Dr. Tong said the patient had paid a half-day visit to Hong Kong on 10 March, returning to Macao on the same day, adding that she had not been to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Shatin, Hong Kong.

Dr Tong also said that the patient had started to run a fever and some cough on 18 March. She was admitted to the private Kiang Wu Hospital on 22 March.

On 23 March, X-ray of her lungs suggested that she had infections on the lower part of both lungs.

The symptoms from which she suffered and her travel history matched the WHO descriptions of SARS, said Dr Tong, although he said it was not certain at this point if the case was related to the situation in Hong Kong, where over 200 people contracted the disease.

Dr. Tong also said the medical staff that had been in contact with the patient had been put under observation; and none so far had suffered from similar symptoms

He also said that the patient’s fiancé had not suffered from any symptoms up to this point either, and would follow the instruction of self-isolation.

On the other hand, Doctor Tong confirmed that both of two other patients, a physician and a nurse, in Macao put under isolated observation earlier this month had meanwhile been diagnosed to have suffered from ordinary infections of the respiratory track, adding that the female doctor who suffered from a bacterial infection had meanwhile been discharged from hospital, and the nurse who suffered from a viral infection was recovering well.