ndian Bride Tests Positive for SARS
By JEEJA PUROHIT 04/21/2003 14:19:06 EST
An Indian bride was taken to a hospital straight from her wedding ceremony Monday after she and
some family members were confirmed as SARS patients, and doctors quarantined the groom, the
wedding guests and the priest.
It is the first major occurrence of severe acute respiratory syndrome in India, where the only
previous confirmed case was released from hospital in a day.
The bride's 29-year-old brother - India's second confirmed SARS case - tested positive for the illness
after traveling to India's Maharashtra state on April 8 from Jakarta via Singapore for the ceremony,
said Subhash Salunke, director of medical health services in the state. Salunke had earlier said the
man had come from Singapore.
The man had been screened twice for SARS during the journey - in Singapore and on a stopover in
the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, said P.P.Gaekwad, a health official in the municipal
corporation of Pune town, where the wedding was taking place.
The man, a cloth merchant based in the Indonesian capital, admitted himself to a hospital in Pune city
in the western Maharashtra state April 17 - four days after he developed symptoms.
He was confirmed Monday as a SARS patient after two tests, and doctors were studying whether
he could have spread the disease to anyone because of the delay in reporting the symptoms.
Within hours on Monday, his mother and sister were also confirmed to have the highly contagious
respiratory illness. The bride was taken away from the Methodist church in Pune immediately after
the ceremony. All were kept in isolation in a hospital.
Salunke said the groom, the priest and approximately 25 guests were being quarantined in private
apartments where the guests had been lodged for the wedding.
Pune is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Bombay, the state capital and India's financial
hub.
No one has died of the disease in India, but Singapore has reported 16 SARS deaths and the disease
has been spread previously by air travelers.
Last week, a marine engineer was confirmed as India's first case of SARS, but he was discharged
from a hospital in the western Goa state and asked to quarantine himself at home.
The government said Monday that it has asked all airlines to sanitize aircraft coming from
SARS-affected nations.
Worldwide, at least 218 people have died of the virus and more than 3,800 are affected, health
authorities say.
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Eds: Ramola Talwar Badam in Bombay, India, also contributed to this story. |
