SARS ruled out in autopsy on dead Italian singer

ROME, Oct 3 (AFP) - Doctors here ruled out a case of the ailment Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Sunday after a post mortem Sunday on an Italian singer who had spent six months in China where the disease is particularly widespread.
Health authorities ordered urgent tests on the body of the 25 year-old woman after the emergency department issuing the death certificate mentioned "a suspicion of SARS".
"First results of the autopsy showed that the young woman's lungs were healthy had not been attacked by any virus," a hospital statement said.
"Examination of various organs did not show any deterioration linked to SARS," it added.
Rossella Uttaro, 25, a singer and actress, died Friday at Latina near Rome. She had recently returned from China where she had been working for six months.
Following her return home, she suffered high temperatures which became worse shortly before her death.
As a precaution, body tissues were being sent to Rome's Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases for further examination.
SARS first appeared in eastern Asia in 2003 and led to some 800 deaths, chiefly in China and Hong Kong. More than 8,000 people were infected.