Family of SARS victim isolated

Family of SARS victim isolated

MALAYSIA: The Malaysian government has ordered a stay-at-home
quarantine for five relatives of a man who died - possibly from a
flu-like illness that has killed nearly 80 people worldwide -
health officials said on Thursday.

The quarantine order was the first in Malaysia, which has so
far not reported any confirmed cases of severe acute respiratory
syndrome, or SARS, said Health Director-General Mohamed Taha
Arif.

He said the people being quarantined in eastern Pahang state
were family members of a 64-year-old Malaysian man who fell ill
and died after returning from trips to China and Singapore late
last month.

The man "had most of the symptoms" of SARS, but the Health
Ministry would wait until Friday to announce whether he would be
classified as a probable SARS case, Mohamed Taha said. --AP