Sars is back

[roidan]

SINGAPORE : The Health Ministry (MOH) says there are no SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) cases in Singapore following the latest infection in Taiwan announced on Wednesday.

The patient, a 44-year-old lieutenant-colonel working at Taiwan's Institute of Preventive Medicine of National Defense Medical Center, had reportedly visited Singapore on December 7-10 for a medical seminar after he got infected with the virus.

Taiwanese health officials say the man may have been infected when conducting research on the virus in a laboratory on December 5.

The MOH is investigating whether the man had a fever while he was in Singapore, which conference he had attended and who he was in contact with. - CNA

[roidan]

news from yahoo:

Taiwan health authorities said a man working at a military medical research institute had contracted SARS, the island's first case of the killer respiratory disease in five months.

The 44-year-old man caught the virus in a laboratory on December 5 while conducting an experiment on SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), the disease that ravaged Asia this year causing hundreds of deaths.

"The victim is a researcher engaging in a government-funded research project on SARS, who was infected with the virus accidentally during the experiment," said Department of Health Minister Chen Chien-jen Wednesday.

"Only one person has been infected so far," he told a press conference.

The patient, a lieutenant-colonel working at the Institute of Preventive Medicine of National Defense Medical Center, developed fever following a December 7-10 trip to Singapore, where he attended a medical seminar.

Center for Disease Control Director Su Ih-jen said the man tested positive Wednesday. He was being treated at the SARS-designated Hoping Municipal Hospital and was not suffering from respiratory difficulties, doctors said.

The patient's wife and two children and those who had contact with him would be observed for 21 days until December 31 to watch for signs of fever, an early symptom of the disease, which claimed 37 lives in Taiwan.

Chen meanwhile urged the public to step up personal hygiene and other preventive measures but said there was no cause for panic, describing the positive test as an isolated case.

The case is the first on the island since the World Health Organisation (WHO) on July 5 declared the epidemic had been contained worldwide after announcing Taiwan -- the last region on a blacklist -- SARS-free.

WHO's Western Pacific regional office spokesman Peter Cordingley in Manila declined to make an immediate comment. "We are still waiting for more information," he told AFP.

Singapore authorities said they had launched an investigation into the case, stressing the city-state was SARS free.

"We are establishing the facts of the case but there are no suspect (cases) of SARS in Singapore," a health ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

She said authorities were trying to find out who came into contact with the Taiwanese man. Singapore, which suffered 33 fatalities during the worldwide outbreak earlier this year, last reported a SARS case in September.

The WHO had previously warned Asian nations to take steps against a possible recurrence of the virus, which experts fear could return in cooler winter months across the region.

The pneumonia-like disease broke out in China's southern Guangdong province in November last year and later spread to and caused mass outbreaks in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam.

It killed 774 people out of 8,098 cases worldwide, according to WHO's latest toll.

Authorities in Hong Kong on Wednesday raised the first stage of a three-level SARS alert system following the confirmation of a case in Taiwan involving a laboratory researcher.

An emergency response command structure of senior officials from the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau, the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority has been put in place, the government said in a statement

[terryansimon]

shite.

[roidan]

just when everyone had forgotten about it....it choose to strike back...

the empire strikes back...lol

[terryansimon]

but I guess there's nothing to panic about. yet.

[tahir69]

its not the only virus, hong kong also got bird flu, and china fujian flu, so pple hv start to panick vacine also no stock, liao

[Regal]

No Worried ??? Our Gov are very efficient ....ha ! ha

[Daniel-K]

ya true. try not do over panic. the most important is drink MORE water and hv enough rest. also do more exercise, dun depend too much on the flu vocin that in future ur body hv to depend on all this to fight with the virus.

[bwilly]

tik my house still got 3M mask..

co. alot spares.. haha..

[Daniel-K]

for those who alway go diving can keep more oxygen tank in their house for emergency use. haaa...

[ai[k²]wan]

i think the sars vaccine is already very close to success.

[FuEl]

Damn..natural selection does'nt work anymore.

[terryansimon]

I want SAF MOP4 mask.

[ah^siao]

hahaa.. just take good care of yourself la? drink more wate.. dun go chiong so much? one week 7 day chiong 6 day enough.. hahaa..just joking