Posted on 12/18/2003 7:22:46 AM PST by CathyRyan
TAIPEI – Health authorities in Taiwan were yesterday scrambling to track down five foreign passengers on a flight taken by a man later diagnosed with the deadly SARS virus.
Centre for Disease Control deputy director Shih Wen-yi said 13 Taiwanese who had sat near the 44-year-old researcher on a flight from Singapore had been told to monitor themselves closely for signs of fever.
But five foreigners also occupying seats near the SARS-positive patient – three US nationals, one Japanese and one Singaporean – had so far not been contacted, Mr Shih said.
"The whereabouts of the five foreigners is difficult to find," he said. "We are trying our best to track them down."
The 13 Taiwanese included five colleagues of the victim who had joined him at a medical seminar in Singapore from December 7-10.
Two of the colleagues had immediately flown to the United States afterwards but were to return today.
All 18 passengers had been on board China Airlines flight CI-662 from Singapore to Taipei on December 10.
Taiwan yesterday confirmed its first case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in five months, sparking alarm across the region.
SARS sparked a worldwide health crisis after emerging in China's southern Guangdong province in November last year, causing 774 deaths and more than 8000 infections, the vast majority in Asia.
The outbreak devastated Asian economies, with the travel and tourism sectors losing hundreds of millions of dollars.
The latest case involved a military laboratory worker who became infected with the killer disease during an experiment at the Institute of Preventive Medicine of the National Defence Medical Centre on December 5.
The infection was blamed on lax safety procedures at the lab.
The patient was reported to be in a stable condition at Taipei's Municipal Hoping Hospital. All people working at the military research complex were also urged to watch for fever, Mr Shih said.
The most probable cause of his infection was not wearing a glove when picking up a contaminated instrument during disinfection.
Creepy. They'll be found the hard way.
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