A joint expert team from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese Ministry of Public Health left Beijing Wednesday afternoon, for east China's Anhui Province, where one diagnosed case and one suspected SARS case were spotted.

The expert team is expected to visit the places and laboratory where the diagnosed SARS patient surnamed Song used to work, according to sources with the ministry.

They will also help assess the laboratory bio-safety standards and provide technical assistance and suggestions to the province's SARS preventative work, an official with the ministry said.

The expert team consists of seven members, three from the Chinese side and four from the WHO.

The ministry said Wednesday afternoon that the SARS patient in Anhui province, surnamed Song, continued to recover with normal temperature recorded for five straight days.

None of the people with close contact with her have shown abnormal symptoms so far and 38 among them have been removed from observation. But Song's mother, the suspected SARS patient in Anhui, died on April 19.

"The team will stay for a day or two to make an initial assessment and speak with the 26-year-old graduate student who is thought to have come in contact with the SARS virus in the Institute of Virology labs in Beijing," Bob Dietz, spokesman for WHO China Office told Xinhua.

Dietz noted the team, experienced in laboratory work and epidemiology, "will interview the 26-year-old graduate student to see what light she can shed on how she contracted her illness."

Meanwhile, another joint expert team has launched a survey Wednesday afternoon in Beijing's Ditan Hospital.

This team, also with seven members, will stay in Beijing with their focus to be on epidemiological investigation as well as hospital and laboratory infection control, a Ministry of Health official said.

China reported one new suspected SARS case on Wednesday, which puts the country's total number of SARS-related cases to two diagnosed and seven others suspected.

The newly reported suspected SARS patient, a 49-year-old retired woman doctor surnamed Zhang, once shared same hospital ward with Beijing diagnosed SARS patient Li. Zhang was now in critical condition, added the ministry.

The ministry went on to say that the Beijing diagnosed SARS patient Li is in relatively stable condition and has had normal temperature for 12 straight days.

The six suspected SARS patients in Beijing continued to receive medical treatment in Beijing Ditan Hospital, the ministry said.

For those currently under medical observation in Beijing, one reported having fever whereas 13 others have been removed from observation.

Source: Xinhua