Abstract
We describe a patient with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) whose clinical symptoms were masked by Escherichia coli bacteremia. SARS developed in a cluster of healthcare workers who had contact with this patient. SARS was diagnosed when a chest infiltrate developed and when the patient's brother was hospitalized with acute respiratory failure. We highlight problems in atypical cases and offer infection control suggestions.
MeSH terms
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Bacteremia / complications*
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Base Sequence
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Contact Tracing
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DNA, Viral / genetics
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Disease Outbreaks
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Escherichia coli Infections / complications*
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Humans
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Infection Control / methods
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Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
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Male
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Middle Aged
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Personnel, Hospital
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Protective Devices
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Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / complications*
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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / diagnosis*
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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / epidemiology
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Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / transmission
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Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / genetics
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Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / isolation & purification
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Singapore / epidemiology