Tourist to China is NZ's first Sars case

By THERESA GARNER and NZPA

A Hawkes Bay woman who made a trip to China has become New Zealand's first Sars case.

She is recovering at home after being been discharged from the isolation unit at Hawkes Bay Hospital.

Health officials say she will stay in her home for two weeks, largely secluded from family and friends.

She spent three weeks in China in a tour group with 34 other New Zealanders, visiting Beijing, Xian, Shanghai and Guilin.

The woman, whose name has not been released, returned on April 19, and complained of feeling unwell.

Health Ministry officials say none of the other group members has shown any typical Sars symptoms, such as a high temperature or fever.

But Wellington Hospital infectious disease specialist Tim Blackmore, a member of the ministry's Sars technical advisory group, said it was probable there had been three other New Zealand cases so far.

Dr Blackmore made the comments in a briefing to a Capital and Coast District Health Board committee without realising the media was present.

He said eight people had been isolated since New Zealand health authorities were made aware of Sars. Three of the cases, which dated back to March, had been looked at closely and were probably Sars, even though they did not meet all the "classical criteria" for the disease.

The patients had been followed by local public health officials and had not passed on the infection. One patient, a French doctor who had worked at a hospital in Hanoi, was treated at Wellington Hospital and was no longer in New Zealand.

Dr Blackmore drew a comparison between New Zealand health authorities' reluctance to report the cases and China's massive under-reporting of the disease, which was influenced by non-medical factors such as trade and tourism.

"There is a lot of politics [around Sars], you only have to look at China."

But later in the day he said that evidence was presented at a meeting of the technical advisory group that suggested the cases were not Sars and he conceded that was possible.

He had not meant to compare New Zealand health authorities to China, but that health authorities needed to be aware of the dangers of under reporting, he said.

The Director of Public Health, Colin Tukuitonga, vehemently denied any kind of cover-up of any cases by the ministry.

Though it remained possible some of the other cases were Sars, the ministry no longer believed it was likely, he said.

"Of course when there is a test that can accurately diagnose Sars we might find that we are wrong."

Health authorities had been extremely proactive in dealing with suspected Sars cases, but he acknowledged that New Zealand's criteria for reporting the disease was far more conservative than that of the WHO or some other countries. He said the announcement of the first New Zealand case should not cause alarm.

"We can take a great deal of reassurance from the way the case has been handled."

He said the woman knew about Sars and stayed away from other people when she returned home.

When she developed a high fever and a dry cough on April 22, she called her doctor, who notified the hospital.

Within 20 minutes, the hospital was in contact with the woman, and she was admitted by staff wearing protective clothing.

The local medical officer of health was notified, and public health staff contacted the other tour members, who live throughout New Zealand.

Dr Tukuitonga said that as the group had been back in the country for 10 days - the incubation period for Sars - the chance of more cases developing was "slight".

A total of 5050 probable Sars cases with 321 deaths have been reported from at least 26 countries.