Nasik: The blood report of Girish Sureshchand Gajwani (23), who was admitted to civil hospital in Nasik for suspected Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), has proved negative, according to hospital sources.

"Gajwani's blood report from Pune's National Institute of Virology (NIV) has been negative," the hospital's civil surgeon Dr Madhukar Patil said.

A resident of Nasik Road, Gajwani, who returned from US on April 18, was admitted to the hospital on April 20 evening and kept under observation in the isolation ward for suspected SARS.

All preliminary tests carried out by the hospital were normal and no patch of pneumonia was seen in his x-rays, but as a precautionary measures his blood sample was sent to Pune's NIV for test on April 21, they said.

Gajwani was running temperature and coughing when he returned from US and was first taken to Nasik Road's Jairambhai memorial hospital, where the doctor felt that since he had returned from US and symptoms were similar to that of SARS, he be shifted to Nasik civil hospital, Dr Patil added.

PTI