Air passenger arrives in UK with 'pneumonia-like' bug

A lethal disease sweeping around the world has reached Britain. A patient with pneumonia-like symptoms was admitted to hospital in Manchester yesterday.

The unidentified patient flew to Britain via Amsterdam from Hong Kong on Saturday, where more than 100 people have been affected by the mystery illness. He is being treated in the isolation unit at North Manchester General Hospital.

The Department of Health is advising travellers on flights KL0888 from Hong Kong to Amsterdam and KL 2037 from Amsterdam to Manchester who develop high fever and chest symptoms to contact a doctor, although evidence suggests that the illness is mainly passed by close personal contact.

Suspected cases were also reported yesterday in France, Italy, Slovenia and Australia. The World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a global alert at the weekend declaring the illness a "worldwide health threat". More than 170 cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, a type of pneumonia, have been notified outside China, where the illness is thought to have originated, and there have been nine deaths.

Airports around the world have been placed on alert and some airlines have turned away travellers who appeared to be sick. In Hong Kong, passengers arriving from Taiwan, Singapore and elsewhere wore surgical masks. In Canada, travellers from Hong Kong were handed warning notices.

WHO officials in Geneva said they were working "flat out" to identify the cause of the illness, which is thought to be a virus. The possibility that it was a bacterium was being discounted because the illness had proved resistant to antibiotics. The symptoms are similar to flu and include a high fever and cough or shortness of breath.

Scientists have long feared that a new strain of influenza could cause a global pandemic but tests have proved negative. A WHO spokesman said yesterday: "It is possible that this is a new disease. We can't rule that out but we can't say it for certain. That is one of the reasons we issued this alert."

The illness is marked by a dry cough, not a wet cough typical of pneumonia, and other symptoms are also unusual for pneumonia. It is transmitted through sneezing, coughing or close contact with an infected person but the WHO spokesman said it was not spreading as widely as would be expected with flu, and most victims had survived. Most of those affected have either been family members of victims or health workers who have cared for them. David Heymann, the WHO's head of communicable diseases, said: "This is not a disease that people will get by walking through a market place or by sitting in a public place."

The outbreak is believed to have originated in southern China in November, where there have been more than 300 cases and five deaths. It spread to Vietnam in February, and cases have been reported from Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Six members of a family from Toronto in Canada fell ill after a visit to Hong Kong and two died. The doctor who treated the family was also infected.

Health officials tried to calm public fears by saying patients should be concerned but not alarmed. The WHO said it had issued the alert because of the speed with which the illness was being transmitted round the world, carried by air travellers, and because there was no treatment. But it emphasised that most victims had survived and close contact was necessary to catch the infection.