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Orange County Baby May Have SARS

Posted: 6:51 am EDT April 25, 2003Updated: 4:33 pm EDT April 25, 2003

Central Florida has its first case of SARS. A one-year-old baby, adopted from China, has all the symptoms. But local doctors say there is no need for panic.

While doctors wait for an official test results from the Centers For Disease Control (CDC), this is still considered a probable case of SARS. Doctors say there is no reason for alarm.

The girl was recently adopted from China and is doing so well she has already been released from the hospital. But her mother questions the diagnosis.

Doctors are very pleased with the progress of the little girl brought to Arnold Palmer Hospital and diagnosed with a probable case of SARS.

"Excellent. The baby will recover and be fine," says Dr. Michael Muszynski, Division Chief, Pediatric Infectious Diseases.

The girl was hospitalized for a day and a half and released Friday morning after showing signs of improvement.

Although the family does not want to be identified, the mother does not think her daughter has SARS. If so, she says, why was she released so soon? She's not happy with the diagnosis or the stigma that comes along with it.

But the diagnosis came straight from the CDC's clinical definition of a probable case. She had a fever, respiratory problems, an x-ray indicating pneumonia, and had been in an area with SARS cases.

In this case, the defining factor was not the symptoms, but that the girl was adopted in China and had only been back in the states for nine days.

"You either have to be in contact with someone with the disease or from an area where the CDC considers the disease to be high risk," says Dr. Muszynski.

Although the girl is recuperating at home, she remains quarantined for ten days after she stops showing any signs and symptoms. Her family, though, can come and go, because they appear healthy.

"Should they appear to have signs or symptoms then we're going to ask them to stay home for ten days," says Bill Toth, Orange County Department of Health.

The Health Department is still trying to contact people that came in contact with the child to warn them to be on the lookout for signs and symptoms. They are not worried about people who were on the plane with the girl when she came back from china because she did not start showing symptoms until she was back in the states.