CHINA: The World Health Organisation (WHO) sent experts to Guangzhou in southern China yesterday to help doctors test a suspected SARS patient, the country's first in months, and said it expected a diagnosis within days.
If confirmed, the infection of a 32-year-old freelance TV producer would be the first not linked to laboratory accidents since the WHO declared a global SARS outbreak over in July.
But the UN health agency said it had no plans to issue any travel or trade advisories.
"Even if he is positive, the precautionary measures have been taken," the WHO's SARS team leader in Beijing, Ms Julie Hall, told reporters. "If he turns out to be negative, then it shows the system is working."
She said the Chinese Health Ministry was working closely with the WHO. A joint team of experts had been sent to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province which borders Hong Kong, to probe the case and inspect precautionary measures.
At the government's invitation, a WHO laboratory specialist from Australia had also arrived in China to review case data.
After initial tests produced a jumble of conflicting results, experts needed more run-throughs at different laboratories using different materials and samples, said Ms Hall.
It was hard to predict the timing of a diagnosis, she said, but added: "It's likely that it will be days rather than weeks."
None of the 81 people quarantined after having contact with the patient had developed a fever or shown other symptoms of the deadly virus, a Guangdong health official said.