1st SARS Case Confirmed in Russia
MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian hospitalized in a city on the Chinese border was diagnosed with SARS on Wednesday, becoming Russia’s first official case, Russian news reports said.
“The diagnosis is unquestionable: this is SARS,” Gennady Onishchenko, Russia’s chief epidemiologist, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
The patient was not identified.
However, Denis Soinikov, who is hospitalized in Blagoveshchensk on the Chinese border, has been undergoing tests for weeks. He was diagnosed with SARS earlier this month, only to have health officials later say they were uncertain.
Onishchenko said a sample of the patient’s blood confirmed that he has severe acute respiratory syndrome, which Russians call atypical pneumonia, Russia’s Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
Russian health officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Soinikov had been living in a hotel in Blagoveshchensk where about half the residents are Chinese. China has suffered the most cases and the most deaths from SARS.
Russia, which has a long border with China, has closed some border points and initiated mandatory medical exams at others.
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