For the second time since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was brought under control in July, a scientist who studies the virus accidentally infected with it. Early Wednesday morning local time, the tests confirmed that 44 Taiwanese researcher SARS, the Department of Health of Taiwan said today. So far it does not appear to have infected anyone else. But the case is a grim reminder, experts say, that the same researchers the fight against SARS could trigger the next global epidemic.
The new patient, lead researcher at the National Defense University in Taipei, came down with flu-like symptoms after returning from a scientific conference in Singapore on 10 December. Later, he also developed diarrhea. He was admitted to hospital on 16 December, where an X-ray revealed pneumonia in his right lung. reaction tests polymerase chain reaction showed the presence of the SARS coronavirus, the Ministry of Health says - a diagnosis that was confirmed at the Taiwan Center for Disease Control earlier today. The test will be repeated at the National Virology Institute in Tokyo, said Australian virologist John Mackenzie, who coordinates temporarily SARS research to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. In October, an informal network of SARS laboratories recommended that any new diagnosis of SARS will be confirmed in a laboratory in a different country.
Colleagues of patients and family members were invited to monitor their health for 14 days and will be isolated if they develop a fever, Taiwanese authorities said. The Singapore government went further, issuing a quarantine order for 70 people who were in contact with the researcher on 9 and 10 December. Patients who were on the same plane back to Singapore to Taipei on December 10 will be traced and told to watch for symptoms of SARS. In Beijing, the Chinese government said it is on alert.
The researcher studied the SARS since last June, and is believed to have contracted the disease in the laboratory before leaving for Singapore on December 7. The Taiwanese government inquiry into the circumstances. "We obviously need to know what is desperately arrived in this laboratory," says Mackenzie. Last August, a virologist of 27 who has studied the West Nile virus in the Environmental Health Institute in Singapore came down with the disease; an investigation blamed the infection on laboratory procedures sloppy laboratory ( Science NOW, September 23). The WHO has stressed the importance of strict biosecurity procedures and some form of certification for laboratories working with the virus. "This again confirms our fears," says Mackenzie.
Related Sites
Press release of the Department of Taiwan Health
WHO SARS information
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