Briton fighting for life

by BEEZY MARSH and ANDREW LOUDON, Daily Mail

The first British victim of a deadly pneumonia virus that is spread by air travel was fighting for his life last night.

The man, who is in his 60s, fell ill on Saturday evening shortly after flying into Manchester airport from the Far East.

Nine people have died from the mystery bug which has spread to 170 people on three continents, prompting a global warning from the World Health Organisation.

The virus leads to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which devastates the lungs, causing lifethreatening pneumonia.

Yesterday 103 passengers who shared the UK-bound KLM flight with the

British man were told to look out for symptoms including high fever, heavy coughing and shortness of breath.

The man, who is in quarantine in the infectious diseases unit of the North Manchester General Hospital, flew in from Hong Kong - where one person has died and 95 are infected - on Saturday.

He had left the Far East in the early hours of the morning on flight KL 0888, touching down in Amsterdam some 11 hours later. He then caught flight KL 2037 to Manchester, arriving at 8pm.

Airline officials from KLM were last night trying to trace more than 20 passengers who sat near the man.

They were being informed of what had happened to him and advised to seek urgent medical advice.

Stephen Farey, divisional director of medicine at the North Manchester Hospital, said: 'The patient is stable and is being nursed in an isolation cubicle.

'He is currently being treated with intravenous antibiotics and oxygen.'

Doctors have yet to confirm the suspected case, but the Government's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, said: 'This is something we are viewing very seriously. We are not sure whether the case is linked but we are treating it as a possible link to the Far East.'

Ros Roughton, spokesman for Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority, said barrier nursing methods were being used in the isolation unit.

This involves using gloves and masks at all times and destroying or sterilising everything that comes into contact with the patient.

Teams of infection control doctors from the Public Health Laboratory Service are poised to attempt to control an outbreak if more cases emerge and GPs have been warned to be on high alert.

A Department of Health spokesman said: 'We think this is a serious situation but we do not want people to be alarmed.'

The virus first emerged in China before spreading to Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Canada.

Suspected cases were also reported yesterday in Germany and Slovenia. Airports around the world have ordered their staff not to check in passengers with symptoms of the disease.

Philippine airport officials said they were spraying anti-viral agents inside aircraft coming from infected countries and pharmacies were reporting a brisk trade in surgical masks.

British virology expert Professor John Oxford, of Queen Mary's College in London, said that it was becoming more unlikely that the virus was influenza - the most frightening scenario for doctors.

The last great flu pandemic in 1919 claimed more than nine million lives around the world.

Professor Oxford said: 'If it was influenza, I expect we would have heard this by now. That's certainly rather reassuring.'