SARS Case Confirmed In Singapore; Victim Is First To Get Disease Since July

Associated Press ^ | 09-14-03

[Brian S]

POSTED: 7:38 a.m. EDT September 14, 2003 UPDATED: 7:43 a.m. EDT September 14, 2003

U.S. lab tests are confirming a medical researcher in Singapore has contracted SARS.

The 27-year-old is the first victim of the potentially deadly disease since the World Health Organization declared SARS under control in July.

The infected man is hospitalized in isolation and is said to be recovering well. Dozens of his friends, colleagues and relatives are under home quarantine as a precaution.

Meanwhile, the Australian government is warning its already battered tourism industry to be prepared for a new outbreak of SARS in Asia in the coming months.

Officials say fears of catching and spreading the virus would probably cost Australia's tourism industry $2 billion this year.

[Brian S]

FYI...

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Didn't he inadvertently infect himself?

[AngrySpud]

Odd; even though this AP story is dated today, it actually broke some ten days ago. Slow news day?

[aristeides]

I think the confirmation of the diagnosis by U.S. labs is new news.

[riri]

I really hope he has not spread it along...

[Prince Charles]

This is the gent who worked as a microbiologist? I'd bet he caught the bug at work.

[blam]

SARS bump.

[Judith Anne]

Another SARS bump...makes you wonder...what if it wasn't the lab that was the source...?

[blam]

"what if it wasn't the lab that was the source...?"

The lab would explain the case for only one infection, huh? Otherwise, I would have expected to hear of other cases.

[Judith Anne]

Yes, that makes sense. Thanks.

[Logical Extinction]

It seems so.

Our young researcher remains in CDC2 without a fever and should make a full and complete recovery.

THE patient, a graduate student at the NUS microbiology department, was studying the West Nile virus (a flavivirus unrelated to the Sars coronavirus), at both the EHI lab and NUS - where the researcher spent most of his time.

The EHI lab had last handled the live Sars virus on Aug 17. If those viruses had gotten into the air, say by vigorous pipetting, they could have contaminated samples of the West Nile virus, which the patient handled when he visited the lab on Aug 23.

But could Sars have survived outside a live host for a full six days?

Safety procedures are strict at the EHI lab. Special design features separate the lab from the general human traffic flow outside. There are controlled access corridors, air locks and double door entries. Walls, floors and ceilings are sealed and impervious to liquids. Likewise, all penetrations - lines for phones, lights, vacuum, cold and hot water - are caulked, collared and sealed so they don't leak.

Even the ventilation system ensures more air leaves the lab than is piped in, and air is discharged outdoors, not recirculated.

Researchers using the lab also follow a strict drill. No cuts or abrasions on the hands, wrists or face; these must be covered with Elastoplast before they put on their gloves and face shields.

They wear shoe covers, gowns, goggles, face masks and face shields to protect from inadvertent spills of infected material. Work is done within biosafety cabinets while ethanol is used to disinfect everything they come into contact with. Even note-taking is done with an ethanol-resistant pen on paper saturated with ethanol before being taken out of the lab. Exit procedures are strict to ensure that no researcher brings deadly bugs with him out into the community.


Infection might have occurred at the other lab - the one in NUS. This lab is of a lower safety level - BSL2.

But as a rule, it handles only dead, deactivated viruses. Some workers there though have claimed that it also held Sars blood samples - which could contain the live virus - in its freezers. An investigation is now underway to see if live Sars viruses could be present in that lab.

Coronaviruses are very prone to mutations, and distinct strains have unique signatures.

Researchers are presently putting this patient's virus under the microscope. When it is eventually sequenced and compared to the 50 or so known strains, as well as to the samples handled in the labs, it will be clearer where the infection came from. Then, and only then, can one tell if this had been a lab infection, or one from some carrier in the community.

[Logical Extinction]

The genetic sequence of the strain of SARS at EHI is a near perfect match with this young man's virus.

"Inappropriate laboratory procedures and the cross contamination of West Nile virus samples with SARS coronavirus in the lab led to the infection of the doctoral student".

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for the update.

[aristeides]

Is that a new report?

[Domestic Church]

"But could Sars have survived outside a live host for a full six days?"

Would mutations allow for this (talk about a nightmare!)

[Logical Extinction]

The West Nile virus he was working on was found to be contaminated with a large quantity of the Sars virus.

How that contamination happened is not clear, but the smart money is on someone's failure to properly clean their equipment.

[Domestic Church]

So do you suspect crossover?(and what are the odds it was intended) I recall in the early days of the SARS outbreak last year some scientists up in Canada thought there was sort of viral symbiotic relationship going on with another bug (or they were insisting their lab results said it was the other bug an not the coronavirus) and China kept pointing the finger at chlamydia.

Isn't this sick researcher of Chinese background?

[Domestic Church]

There's no room for inappropriate lab procedures in a level three lab. You don't get a research job in a place like that until you've thoroughly proven yourself in protocol and procedure. This really stinks.

[Logical Extinction]

D.C.

Young people in Microbiology have a difficult time developing the patience and methodology necessary to maintain a safe laboratory environment.

Human error