Londoner in Sars scare
British tourists and businessmen are being urged to change their travel plans to avoid the killer virus which has infected thousands worldwide.
Travellers have been told to stay away from Hong Kong and the nearby Chinese province of Guangdong after an outbreak which has left 78 dead.
Government health experts yesterday upgraded warnings amid fears that the mysterious virus, which leads to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, is spreading out of control.
With three Britons already fighting for their lives, a British journalist was quarantined in Brazil yesterday when she showed signs of the disease after arriving from Asia.
Forty-one-year-old Sally Blower from Wimbledon, South-west London, works as a production manager for ITV's motor racing programme F1. She is unmarried and has no children.
Brazilian doctors are treating her illness very seriously because she recently spent two weeks in Malaysia, covering the Malaysian Grand Prix. She then flew back home via Singapore and spent five days in London.
She said last night: 'I feel awful. I have a very high fever of 102 and I've had it for three days now. 'If it isn't SARS then it's pneumonia. Hopefully it's pneumonia.
'I don't have very much lung capacity so breathing is difficult and the doctors are having trouble breaking the fever.
'I an being kept in isolation. I have spoken to my family, and of course they are worried for me. I will find out tomorrow morning what the test results are.'
The Government alert follows a warning from the World Health Organisation, the first of its kind ever issued by the UN group.
The Department of Health said: 'The UK public is strongly advised not to travel to these areas. This advice is being reviewed daily and this travel warning may be extended to other countries.'
At least nine businessmen have contracted SARS in Hong Kong then taken it back to their home countries. Deaths have been reported in Canada, China, Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand.
Cases have also been diagnosed in the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. There is no vaccine for the disease, which attacks the lungs and causes pneumonia, as the virus responsible has not yet been identified.
It causes the lungs to swell so they press against the chest wall and prevent oxygen from reaching the blood, suffocating the victim. Even those who recover often require weeks of hospitalisation.
Scientists initially thought the virus was spread by droplets, through coughing and sneezing. But experts now say the concentration of cases in a Hong Kong block of flats suggests it can also be spread by water or sewage systems.
With the death toll in the former British territory at 16, most people in the territory of nearly 7 million now don surgical masks before leaving their homes or offices. Swimming pools have shut and once-bustling shopping malls and restaurants are almost deserted.
Forty-six people have died in China, where the disease originated, and 1,190 cases have been reported. Worldwide, there have been around 2,200 cases.
Thailand has warned all tourists from infected areas to wear masks at all times - or face six months in jail and a fine.
In Britain, Tory health spokesman Liam Fox criticised the Government for delays which he said could have put lives at risk.
Dr Fox said: 'A large number of British citizens travel routinely for business and pleasure to Hong Kong and it is imperative they are given clear and unambiguous advice by the Government.
'It is now some time since the Canadian and American governments advised their citizens to postpone holidays to Hong Kong. Yet again the Government has been slow to give the health of British citizens adequate priority.'
The WHO has advised that all international travellers leaving areas such as Hong Kong should be screened.
