A 64-year-old businessman believed to be the first in the UK to suffer from a mystery pneumonia bug is improving in hospital.
The man, who has not been named, has been able to speak to his wife from an isolation ward at an infectious diseases unit at North Manchester General Hospital.
He is thought to be suffering from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which has killed nine people and has been branded a worldwide health threat.
The man was classed yesterday as a "probable case" - meaning that, as well as having symptoms such as high fever, chest X-rays have shown evidence of pneumonia, or adult respiratory distress syndrome.
Passengers who flew in from Hong Kong via Amsterdam on the same KLM flight last Saturday as the man were urged to watch out for symptoms of the illness.
At least four deaths - two in Canada, one in Hong Kong and one in Vietnam - have been attributed to SARS, which has been described as an atypical pneumonia or influenza-like illness.
In Hong Kong, the number of people stricken by the syndrome - which might have originated in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong - was put by government health officials today at 111.
PA/AFP