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Posted on 12/18/2003 7:31:38 PM PST by fatso
Taiwan's new SARS case raise questions about procedures at labs Two colleagues of infected scientist now in U.S.
Song Yeon-Jae / AP A thermal camera checks the temperature of passengers from China arriving Wednesday at Inchon International Airport in South Korea. Taiwan has reported a new SARS case.
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Taiwan's first SARS case in five months raised serious questions Wednesday about how carefully laboratories are handling the virus. The infected scientist ignored safety guidelines and waited six days before going to a hospital -- even though he had a fever.
Fears about the virus increased Thursday as Taiwanese health authorities revealed that two colleagues who had had close contact with the scientist are now in the United States. Singapore and Taiwan ordered 92 people into quarantine, including 18 people who had been on an airline flight with the man.
The infected man, a 44-year-old Taiwanese researcher, had been studying SARS in the island's only "P4 laboratory" -- a facility designed for the world's deadliest viruses.
Even though SARS is highly contagious, the scientist didn't wear a gown and protective gloves -- basic safety gear required by World Health Organization guidelines, said Dr. Shigeru Omi, the WHO's Western Pacific regional director.
"It's a very high-standard laboratory which requires a very strict procedure, but nonetheless he did not wear the gowns and the gloves," Omi told reporters in Manila, Philippines.
Officials suspect the scientist was exposed to the virus Dec. 5 when cleaning up contaminated liquid in his lab at the state-funded Institute of Preventive Medicine in Taipei, said Su Ih-jen, chief of Taiwan's Center for Disease Control.
"He was in a hurry to get ready for a conference in Singapore, so he was rushing to finish his disinfection work and was careless," Su said.
The scientist had no SARS symptoms when he left for Singapore on Dec. 7, officials said. But hours after his return to Taiwan on Dec. 10, he developed a fever -- a key SARS symptom.
Su said he doubted the researcher infected anyone in Singapore or on the China Airlines flight home because he was asymptomatic at that point and not contagious. SARS patients usually start infecting others when they develop a fever, he said.
WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng agreed, saying: "It looks very much like an isolated event."
Still, Singapore quarantined 70 people who had been in close contact with the scientist. Another 22 were put into isolation in Taiwan, including 18 people who were on the China Airlines flight.
Two colleagues went to Singapore with the researcher on Dec. 7 and later traveled to the United States, said Shih Wen-yi, a spokesman for Taiwan's Center for Disease Control.
Shih did not say where the colleagues were staying in the United States, but said they planned to return to Taiwan on Friday.
Two other colleagues who traveled with the SARS patient have been quarantined, Shih said.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome infected 8,098 people worldwide and killed 774 after it was first detected a year ago. Taiwan ranked No. 3 on the global list for deaths and cases, behind China and Hong Kong.
One troubling detail about Taiwan's new case was that the scientist waited until Tuesday night -- six days after developing a fever -- before going to a Taipei hospital for tests. By the time he went to the hospital, he had developed other SARS symptoms, such as a cough and signs of pneumonia.
SARS was immediately suspected, and confirmed by genetic tests.
The scientist -- whose name was not made public -- wasn't available for comment Wednesday. Possible disciplinary measures weren't discussed, officials said.
Authorities said the scientist properly quarantined himself at home after he developed SARS symptoms Dec. 10. So far, the man's wife, two children and father haven't developed fevers.
It was the second SARS case in Asia related to a laboratory -- the first was in Singapore in August. That case was the world's first known infection since the WHO declared SARS under control last July.
A WHO-led panel of investigators blamed "inappropriate safety procedures" in handling the virus at the Singapore lab, which no longer handles the SARS virus.
Henk Bekedam, the WHO representative in China, told reporters in Beijing that the case in Taiwan should alert scientists.
"It's a clear reminder again that we have to be extremely cautious working with the SARS corona virus and there are whole issues about whoever in the whole world is keeping a SARS specimen has to be very careful in dealing with this," he said.
It's our last show of the year,
and we're going out with a bang...
Special Guest
Kenneth Timmerman
will be discussing his latest book!
Radio FreeRepublic is sponsored by the FreeRepublic Network.
Singapore quarantined 70 people who had been in close contact with the scientist. Another 22 were put into isolation in Taiwan, including 18 people who were on the China Airlines flight.
Ping... Flu season has started.
Taiwan's new SARS case raise questions about procedures at labs: Two colleagues of infected scientist now in U.S.
The first part of the title would be sufficient.
World Wide Alert In New SARS Scare
Welcome to FR 'fatso.'
I'll add you to my infrequent SARS updates. If you'd like to be pinged to daily post, I recommend aristieds ping list.
Stupidity season has started. He was in a rush ...to enhance his career and didn't wear a gown and gloves. And how many people will be exposed to SARS because of his selfishness?
Precisely the point. Following the SARS threads in the beginning of the year, and its decline during summer, I had said that SARS would be the disease to watch out for during flu season.
The flu is hopping around here, and I've seen it's causing concern in the US as well. All that's necessary is one idiot to tip the scale... I hope it wasn't this guy.
What the hell are safety regs good for, when they are so blatantly ignored?
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