GERMANY: Frankfurt doctors were last night monitoring the worsening condition of a man believed infected with a form of pneumonia the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called a "worldwide health threat".
The 32-year-old man, a doctor from Singapore, was removed from a plane at Frankfurt airport on Saturday and put in quarantine after displaying symptoms of the disease, known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
A spokesman for the Geneva-based WHO said there were reports two people had died in Canada, taking the death toll to nine worldwide since the first outbreak was detected in China in February.
The syndrome, SARS, is now a worldwide health threat, said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, director general of the WHO, in a statement. "The world needs to work together to find its cause, cure the sick, and stop its spread."
The unnamed doctor is believed to have treated patients with SARS, a disease which has reportedly killed at least nine people in Asia.
The WHO has received over 150 reports of SARS in southern China, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Taiwan. The disease is highly contagious and cannot be treated with standard drugs. The first suspected case of SARS in Europe was reported on Saturday when the doctor was removed from a plane en route from New York to Singapore.
He was brought to the Wolfgang Goethe University Clinic in Frankfurt, along with his 30-year-old pregnant wife and his 63-year-old mother-in-law.
"We still know far too little to be able to say whether it is perhaps just a normal illness," said Mr Hanns-Reinhart Brodt, the head of the clinic's isolation unit. He said the man's condition "worsened slightly" yesterday. His wife, also a doctor, has so far displayed no signs of the illness, while his mother-in-law is running a high fever.
The other 220 passengers on the plane were released on Saturday afternoon after a short time in quarantine but were told to be vigilant for symptoms of the disease, which include fever, coughing and breathing difficulties.
Those travelling onwards were allowed continue their journey from Frankfurt on Saturday afternoon, with passengers continuing to Singapore put on a different plane. The plane used in the flight from New York was flown without passengers to Singapore for disinfection.
Passengers arriving in Singapore yesterday were visibly exhausted but praised the swift action of German authorities.
"We're not annoyed, they did everything, it's to do with our own health," said Mr Pramood Nigam, an information technologist.
Health officials in Frankfurt said they are "working on the assumption of an exceedingly slight risk" to other passengers.
Airline check-in staff have been instructed to watch for flu-like symptoms of SARS in an attempt to halt its spread.