Indonesia revises SARS death report

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A Taiwanese thought to be the first person to die from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Indonesia died from a heart attack, the Ministry of Health and World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday.

"The autopsy and pathological tests proved that the person died of heart failure," ministry verification team spokesman Sjafii Ahmad said.

"We indeed found an indication of lung infection, but it was related to his heart problem. Actually, before he was suspected of having SARS, he had suffered from a heart problem."

Indonesia had earlier put the 56-year-old businessman among its suspected SARS cases.

The man arrived from Taipei on April 17 and was admitted on April 23 to Husada Hospital in Central Jakarta with a fever and heart problems. The hospital later transferred him to Sulianti Saroso Infectious Diseases Hospital (RSPI) in North Jakarta, where he died one hour after receiving treatment.

Sjafii said the man's body had been cremated.

WHO technical officer in Jakarta, Mark Brooks, confirmed the man was not a SARS victim.

"It's based on the autopsy result, which just came out today," Brooks said, as quoted by AFP, adding it was involved in the examination.

WHO had excluded the man from the list of probable SARS cases. Officially, Indonesia has reported two probable cases.

The first was a Briton who had been treated in RSPI and later discharged as his condition had improved. However, he fled to Hong Kong without informing Indonesia's health authorities.

The second is still being treated in Adam Malik Hospital, Medan, North Sumatra. His condition is reportedly improving.

On Wednesday, one new potential case was admitted to RSPI.

The Taiwanese government, meanwhile, announced two new SARS deaths, including a 26-year-old Indonesian female contracted to take care of patients in the northern city of Keelung.

Her body would be cremated in 24 hours, a health official told AFP.

WHO's April 29 report on probable global SARS cases showed 5,462 people had been infected, 353 of whom had died.

In Singapore, 201 people have been infected and 24 have died.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said Wednesday that the Singaporean government had been implementing tight measures to curb the spread of SARS, standards beyond those of WHO.

Herman Susanto, a businessman who just arrived from Singapore on Tuesday, told the Post that spread of SARS had slowed in Singapore thanks to the standards.

"The country's government installed temperature scanners in Changi Airport. They also used news media effectively to raise people's awareness of the disease," he said.

Citing an example, he said the Singapore government, using the media, had told people to take care when visiting a particular drugstore and shopping center after a new SARS patient admitted to having visited them.

Another traveler said he was appalled that he was not subjected to any testing at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after arriving from Singapore on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the United States government is donating 5,000 N-95 respirator face masks to help Indonesia combat the spread of SARS.