Second Nevadan tested for SARS

Friday, April 18, 2003 | 9:22 a.m.

About 35 people nationwide have probable cases of SARS under the newly refined definition of the deadly flu-like illness, and a second Nevadan is being tested for the disease, Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said late Thursday.

A Washoe County resident who just returned from Asia is also being tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome. It is the first suspected case in Northern Nevada. The person is confined to the home.

A Las Vegas woman who has been tested for the illness and is quarantined in her home probably doesn't have the disease under the CDC's refined definition of the new virus, but the Clark County Health District won't rule out SARS until the CDC test results come back next week, officials said.

Like many of the suspected U.S. cases, the unidentified Las Vegas woman, who had recently traveled to East Asia, had only mild flu-like symptoms. She was never hospitalized. Fewer than 50 of the 208 suspected U.S. cases have been hospitalized, the CDC said.

Lab tests have confirmed evidence of the newly identified virus that causes SARS in five of the 35 most probable cases, Gerberding said. For tests to find the virus, they must be conducted early in the disease, before the virus is overcome by the patients' immune defenses, officials said.

To date there have been no fatal cases of SARS in the United States, officials said this morning.