23 April 2004

Dear Doctor,

Two patients suspected to have SARS in Beijing (??) and Anhui (??) province

The Ministry of Health, P.R.C. (MOH) notified Hong Kong Department of Health about two patients suspected to have SARS, one living in Beijing and the other in Anhui province. The Beijing patient is a 20-year-old nurse who developed clinical and radiological features suggestive of SARS on 5 April 2004 and is now isolated in hospital. The Anhui patient is a 26-year-old female who was admitted with pneumonia on 29 March in the same hospital as the Beijing case. Laboratory tests for SARS on the two patients are ongoing. The mainland authorities have identified and quarantined 171 and 88 close contacts in association with the Beijing and Anhui patients respectively. Five contacts of the Beijing patients were found to have fever.

In Hong Kong, the Department of Health has deployed extra port health staff to distribute health information leaflets and health alert cards to passengers arriving from Beijing and Anhui by air or rail. We are maintaining contact with the Ministry of Health, P.R.C, and we will provide you with any update information. If there is a laboratory confirmed case of SARS outside Hong Kong, we will activate SARS Alert Level under the Checklist of Measures to Combat SARS. If you come across a suspicious case, please notify the Regional Offices under the Department of Health.

Some useful information about SARS for health care professionals can be found in the DH website: http://www.info.gov.hk/info/sars/e_profession.htm

Yours faithfully,  (Dr. Thomas TSANG)    for Director of Health