New Sars suspect goes to hospital

A patient has been admitted to Green Lane Hospital in Auckland with suspected Sars.

Hospital spokeswoman Megan Richards said yesterday the person had been admitted on Monday night.

This patient is among 10 nationally who are under investigation by health authorities as possible cases of the pneumonia-like severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Globally there have been more than 6580 cases and over 460 deaths since the disease appeared last November in southern China.

Laboratories at the Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch district health boards have developed tests for Sars using materials from overseas laboratories.

The Health Ministry's clinical director for Sars, Dr Doug Lush, said last night these tests were useful, but better ones were in development.

He expected there would be a "definitive test" that would be able to identify clearly cases of Sars.

The Hawkes Bay woman whose case was reported to the World Health Organisation as New Zealand's probable first case of Sars was checked with the new laboratory test, he said.

The result was negative.

Meanwhile, Sars is threatening to dampen 50th anniversary celebrations of Sir Edmund Hillary's conquest of Mount Everest.

Organisers of the celebration say many Japanese, Chinese and Southeast Asian climbers have cancelled their trips to Nepal to attend the anniversary this month because of Sars concerns.

"The fear of Sars could hamper the celebrations," Nepal Mountaineering Association's Bhoomi Lama said yesterday.

"We have had a lot of cancellations from Everest summiteers from these countries."

He said mountaineers from Europe and the United States had expressed concerns, but there had been no cancellations from those regions.