The Sars Epidemic: Hong Kong; 12 Sars Patients Report Relapses

By KEITH BRADSHER with LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN (NYT) 1267 words
Late Edition - Final , Section A , Page 1 , Column 1

ABSTRACT - Hong Kong health officials say dozen patients who seemed to recover from SARS have become ill again after leaving hospital; relapses raise unsettling questions on disease, about which much is still unknown; officials say some became ill again more than two weeks after discharge; it is not clear whether patients contracted infection second time, or simply became ill with same virus after seeming to recover; relapses may mean that patients can still transmit SARS even when they are no longer thought to be infectious; if so, transmission might recur in countries where officials have said outbreak is over; these are first relapses to be reported since epidemic broke out in China last fall; relapses are another sign of critical need for doctors to develop diagnostic test for SARS; Hong Kong hospitals are releasing patients who no longer show symptoms, with no way to determine whether patients still have virus in their bodies; map (M) Local health officials said here tonight that a dozen patients who had seemed to recover from SARS became ill again after leaving the hospital.

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