First UK Sars case confirmed

The Coronavirus is thought to cause Sars

The first confirmed case of Sars has been reported in the UK.

The Health Protection Agency announced on Thursday that lab tests on a probable case had produced a positive result.

The patient has been informed of their result - but their identity is being kept confidential.

The HPA said the patient had been treated appropriately, and has now recovered.

It said there was no cause for any further public health action as there was no evidence that the virus had been transmitted to close contacts.

Since mid-March the Health Protection Agency's Central Public Health Laboratory has been carrying out testing on suspected and probable cases of Sars.

This involves looking for the more common causes of respiratory infections such as influenza and legionnaires' disease - so that cases can be discounted - alongside testing for infection with the corona virus which causes Sars.

Test

The Central Public Health Laboratory has been working on corona virus tests as part of an international collaboration coordinated by the World Health Organisation.

Definitive blood testing can currently only be achieved 3-4 weeks after a patient has developed symptoms of Sars.

Dr Maria Zambon, Head of the Respiratory Virus Unit of the Health Protection Agency, said: "Since reporting began a total of eight people have been classified as a probable Sars case at one time or another, and the HPA has been carrying out intensive investigations on all these cases."

So far, four cases from the probable list have been removed due to an alternative laboratory diagnosis being made.

Two cases tested positive for influenza a number of weeks ago, and two further cases were removed this week, one with a diagnosis of mycoplasma and the other with influenza.

Of the remaining four probable cases, tests for the corona virus have been completed on two. One was positive, the other negative.

Even though one case has been found to be negative, it still has to be categorised as a "probable" case.

So in total the UK currently has three probable cases, and one confirmed case.

To date 159 'suspected' cases of Sars in the UK have been reported to the Health Protection Agency's Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre.

There have been 7,628 probable cases of Sars worldwide and 587 people have died from the virus.