26 March 2003BANGKOK - The World Health Organisation said yesterday
five people with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
were being treated at various hospitals in Thailand, but
that all cases had become infected outside the country.
The Public Health Ministry reported yesterday that the
five were only suspected cases, but Somsong Rakphao
director-general of the Medical Sciences Department said
tests carried out on specimens sent to US Communicable
Diseases Control had confirmed the presence of
paramyxovirus, the virus suspected of causing SARS.
All five patients are reported to be under quarantine at
different hospitals in Bangkok, and are being treated
according to WHO guidelines said Suphamit Chunhasuthiwat,
secretary-general of the special committee set up to
research SARS.
WHO researcher Dr. Urbani Carlo, the first reported case
in Thailand who was transferred from Hanoi on March 11,
remains in stable condition, but doctors said he had not
responded well to treatment.