- This story infuriates me. Labs and their careless researchers
are the ones we need fear the most in starting outbreaks, such as SARS.
They look into the "eyes of the beast" i.e. the viral geneomes
and they feel that they, the lab researchers, are invinceable. They aren't
and we aren't.
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- This just makes me so angry. I have been pleading, begging
and trying to get the point across that our labs and workers need to be
closely-scrutinized and the workers need to go that extra mile when working
with these bugs. For years, I have been publicizing this, yet, they don't
listen. Frustrating.
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- The ultimate slap in the face is the fact that the two
researchers (who had close contact with the SARS researcher and also worked
with the virus) are going to step into an airplane and sit amongst passengers
tomorrow when they leave the US. An ultimate outrage and the CDC does
nothing.
- I wonder if the other passengers will be told. Fat chance.
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- Patty
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- 12-18-3
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- TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) - Taiwan's
first SARS patient in five months didn't strictly quarantine himself at
home as officials originally said he did, and two colleagues who had close
contact with him have flown to America, officials said Thursday.
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- The developments raised other serious questions about
decisions made by the patient, a 44-year-old military scientist who officials
say might have caught SARS while mishandling samples of the highly contagious
virus in his lab. Officials also have said he allegedly wasn't wearing
safety gear, like a gown and gloves.
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- Although the researcher suspected that he might have
been exposed to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, he kept his
plans to go to Singapore on Dec. 7 to attend a conference, officials said.
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- Singapore has quarantined 75 people who had contact with
the man, Lt. Col. Chan. Taiwan has also ordered 25 people quarantined.
But five of them - three Americans, a Japanese and a Singaporean who flew
with the scientist when he returned from Singapore on Dec. 10 - are unaccounted
for.
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- Taiwanese officials trying to track down the five, whose
names have not been released, but don't know whether they are still in
Taiwan or have left the country. Although they believe it unlikely the
five contracted the virus, they want to notify all those who came into
contact with the scientist and urge them to look for symptoms.
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- None of those quarantined in Singapore or Taiwan has
developed SARS symptoms, though five have been hospitalized in Singapore
as a precaution, Singapore's Ministry of Health said.
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- Singapore's Changi Airport has increased its screening
of arriving passengers from Taiwan to determine if any of them have a fever.
China Central Television reported that Beijing's airport has begun disinfecting
flights from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore and has set up a special passageway
to check the health of travelers from those countries.
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- The global SARS outbreak that erupted just over a year
ago affected 8,000 people and killed 774, mostly in Asia. In Taiwan, 37
people died - the 3rd highest death toll. China, the hardest hit, suffered
349 deaths.
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- Taiwanese officials say the infected scientist was asymptomatic
during his travels and probably didn't infect anyone.
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- The patient quarantined himself at home since developing
a fever upon his Dec. 10 return, officials said.
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- But on Thursday, Shih Wen-yi, a spokesman for Taiwan's
Center for Disease Control, said the man didn't stay at home the entire
time before he was diagnosed with SARS on Wednesday.
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- The scientist spent the night at his work dormitory on
Dec. 10, Shih said. The next day, his wife drove the researcher - who wore
a surgical mask - to a suburban Taipei medical clinic, he said.
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- After his check-up, the scientist went back home and
waited five days before he went to a hospital, Shih said. This was a violation
of guidelines that require SARS researchers to seek immediate hospital
care, he said.
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- "Maybe our awareness campaign was not enough,"
said Shih, who declined to discuss possible disciplinary action.
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- The clinic's receptionist and doctor have been quarantined
along with five people related to the clinic's staff, Shih said.
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- "There were no other patients in the clinic at the
time," Shih said.
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- The CDC official also said that two colleagues who went
to Singapore with the researcher traveled to the United States on Dec.
10, the same day they returned to Taiwan.
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- The colleagues, who worked for the Ministry of Defense,
have been ordered to return to Taiwan on Sunday, said Shih, who wouldn't
say where the men were in the United States. Officials with the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention were monitoring the men, who have shown
no SARS symptoms, he said.
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- As Taiwanese recovered from the initial scare of the
possible return of SARS, the focus turned to the scientist's mistakes.
Officials have said that he might have been infected by spilled virus samples
while rushing to clean his laboratory.
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- Shih declined to discuss the lab conditions and a claim
by the World Health Organization that the researcher wasn't wearing protective
gear. An investigative report would be released in three days, he said.
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- Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming defended the researcher,
who was testing how SARS responds to different drugs. Tang said the researcher
had his wife, two adult daughters and father stayed in separate homes after
he got sick.
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- "Because he performed this dangerous work, he understands
its danger, so he exerted the utmost effort to prevent (mistakes),"
Tang said.
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- But Tang acknowledged that mistakes were made.
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- "With people, you cannot avoid shortcomings and
negligence, this is natural, this we have to improve," he said. "If
there was no negligence, this case would not have happened, so here I offer
my sincere apologies to my compatriots."
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- In Beijing, China ordered researchers to turn in samples
of the SARS virus for storage.
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- According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the Health
Ministry "demanded that all regions strengthen management of the SARS
virus ... and guarantee the safety of laboratories."
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- Mainland authorities have picked three facilities to
store virus samples and four for materials from patients, a Health Ministry
spokeswoman said.
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