Sars suspect waits for blood tests

The results of blood tests on a Chinese woman regarded as a high-risk Sars suspect were expected to be handed to doctors in Dublin today.

The woman at the centre of the scare arrived in Dublin last week on a flight from the Far East.

She reported to St Vincent’s Hospital on Friday with Sars-like symptoms, but was given a surgical mask and told to go back to the hostel where she has been staying.

The hostel involved is understood to have been closed today and the health authorities are attempting to track down all of the woman’s contacts.

In a statement, the hospital said: “The patient was never admitted to the hospital but was medically assessed here last Friday and it was deemed appropriate that they be discharged home.”

The Eastern Health Board said the woman – who comes from the region of China where Sars is believed to have originated – is now in hospital being monitored, investigated and treated in accordance with best practice guidelines and her symptoms had improved.

Five doctors involved in the treatment of infectious diseases, who are currently on strike over pay and conditions, left a picket line yesterday to examine the suspect case.

Later they said they were treating the woman as a “probable” case of Sars, and regarded her as being “at serious risk” of having the illness.

The latest development came as a group of health experts appointed by the Government to draft a strategy for dealing with the illness when the Special Olympics are staged this summer delayed making any recommendations until next month.

Dr Fintan Howell, of the Irish Medical Organisation, the group in dispute with the Irish Government, said: “The doctors who left the picket line have been working constantly on this case to prepare a report.

“Contact should have been made on Friday when this patient was first seen. But this sort of thing happens every weekend.

“I think we need to deal with this a bit more professionally.”

Criticism of the handling of the current suspect Sars case and the alert over the sickness generally in Ireland have been rejected by Health Minister Micheál Martin.

He said today there had been high level discussions over the woman’s case before she was allowed to leave hospital last Friday.

“She is now back in hospital for precautionary reasons,” the minister reported.

He admitted that his department, which was told of the suspect case development last night, should have been contacted on Friday, and added: “This contingency plan did not work in this particular case.”