The first confirmed SARS patient in east China's Anhui Province was discharged from hospital Monday morning after recovery, amid best wishes from her relatives and colleagues.

The patient, a medical postgraduate surnamed song, shook hands with leaders of the Anhui University of Medical Science where she studies, and waved to the waiting crowd after walking out the ward.

Zhu Qixing, president of the hospital attached to the medical university, said Song has recovered and is in good health. She had met all the requirements for being discharged.

Before the SARS patient walked out of the isolated ward, she changed all the clothes and underwent thorough disinfection, Zhu added.

Song was studying at a Beijing-based research institute of virus diseases under the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) from March 7 to 22. When Song went back to Hefei, capital of Anhui, by train on March 23, she felt ill and had a fever. After medical treatment, she felt better, but the fever kept high. She was diagnosed a SARS patient on April 23.

Doctors of the hospital treated her with a therapy which combines Western medicine with traditional Chinese medicine.

Zhang Xuejun, a Ph.D. holder and president of the Anhui University of Medical Science, said Song already has had the SARS virus antibody and all the SARS virus in her body has been neutralized, which means she will not become a source of the contagious disease.

The school has made arrangements for Song's study and life on the campus, he said.

According to local health department, all the 154 people who had contacts with Song have undergone medical observation and no abnormal symptoms have been found.

Source: Xinhua