The World Health Organisation has cautioned China that the second suspected SARS case reported in Guangdong province should be taken seriously, and further laboratory tests should be conducted to trace its origin.
"Working from the incomplete data we have, it seems to us that there is sufficient evidence to indicate that further laboratory tests should be performed, and that this case should be taken seriously," the WHO china office said in a press release last night.
The government of Guangdong in south China on Thursday reported that the second patient, a 20-year-old waitress working at a restaurant in the provincial capital, Guangzhou, is now in a stable condition, and all the 100 people including 48 with close contact with her and 52 with normal contact have shown no SARS symptoms.
"We still do not have full data (about the results of the tests conducted on the suspect SARS patient), but have requested it," the WHO office said.
The health body said it has recommended that a full set of samples from the patient be sent to China's national reference laboratories in Beijing, and, simultaneously, another set be sent to one of WHO's international SARS reference laboratory network facilities.
{{/usCountry}}The health body said it has recommended that a full set of samples from the patient be sent to China's national reference laboratories in Beijing, and, simultaneously, another set be sent to one of WHO's international SARS reference laboratory network facilities.
{{/usCountry}}"As with all SARS-related testing, we must ensure throughout the testing process that contamination of the samples used in the PCR tests is excluded, and any positive findings from the antibody tests have not been the result of cross-reaction with other coronaviruses," the WHO said.