Nurse too sick to receive donated blood

A Beijing nurse whose battle with Sars prompted a weekend blood donation drive has become too sick to receive further blood products, according to one of her colleagues.

Wang Jing, who was infected while working at the fever clinic of People's Hospital, was on Monday transferred from Ditan Hospital to the Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital, which has been designated for Sars patients.

Her condition had worsened there, said Zeng Li, a fellow People's Hospital nurse who organised the blood drive at the weekend.

'It's got to be really serious,' Ms Zeng said. 'None of us can reach her anymore.'

The People's Hospital fever clinic was quarantined with 1,425 people inside because of an outbreak. Sars awareness and subsequent precautions were lacking citywide at that time, said deputy hospital administrator Wang Jishan.

'She was a strong nurse,' he said. But, he said, 'there were a lot of sick people, a lot of people with fevers. Prevention wasn't good'.

Last Saturday, Beijing newspapers and mainland internet news portals said Wang Jing needed a recovered Sars patient's blood serum to help her survive.

State media said a previous patient had survived this way. The pleas turned up 10 or 15 recovered Sars patients with potential blood matches, Xinhua reported.