Wednesday, May 7, 2003 | 9:28 a.m.
A man visiting Las Vegas who had Southern Nevada's second suspected case of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, left voluntary isolation Tuesday after the recommended 10 days of separation expired, a health official said.
It was not a confirmed case of SARS or even a probable one, said David Tonelli, a Clark County Health District spokesman.
"The person was mildly ill and had no confirmed pneumonia," Tonelli said.
The test results on the first suspected local case of SARS came back negative on Monday.
The person involved in the second case arrived in Las Vegas in a car from out of state.
"The person poses no public health threat," Tonelli said. "The person has not stayed in any (Las Vegas) hotel or other public place."
The health district spokesman said officials heard the visitor had left Las Vegas, but could not officially confirm it.
Although the person is not a Las Vegas resident, the case will be counted in the state's total of suspected cases, which stands at three, Tonelli said. One suspected case was identified in Northern Nevada.
Although health district officials could not reveal where the person came from, citing new federal guidelines protecting patient privacy, they did confirm that the person's travel history was considered in classifying it as a suspected SARS case. That means he had been in East Asia recently.
Neither the Las Vegas woman, who had the first suspected case, nor the visiting man was hospitalized.
Both had mild symptoms and had volunteered to remain in isolation for 10 days, Tonelli said.
Isolation differs from quarantine in that the person is not supervised. Instead, Tonelli explained, the person agrees not to have contact with others.
Hospitalization is not required in isolation cases.
Although the Las Vegas woman's tests did not indicate SARS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is continuing to test blood and nasal discharge to determine what caused the illness.
The woman had visited Hong Kong.
Despite the fact it turned out she did not have SARS, for statistical purposes she remains classified as a suspected SARS case under guidelines established by the CDC.
Even if the woman's tests had returned positive results, she would remain classified as a suspected SARS case and not elevated to confirmed SARS because her illness was not severe.
The man's samples will also continue to be tested by the CDC, Tonelli said.
Through Tuesday there had been 6,521 cases of SARS with 461 deaths in 30 countries, the World Health Organization reported on Tuesday.
In the United States, there were 65 probable cases and 255 suspected cases as of Tuesday.
No one in the United States has died from SARS, the World Health Organization said.
To date, 2,764 SARS sufferers have been classified as having recovered from the disease.
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