World News Taiwan reports fresh SARS case

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TAIPEI (AP) - Taiwan reported its first SARS case in five months Dec. 17 - a scientist who allegedly ignored World Health Organization (WHO) safety rules and worked with spilled virus samples without wearing a protective gown and gloves, officials said

The news caused Taiwan's stock market to tumble, and the island's top health officials scrambled to ease fears that the highly contagious virus would spread

"It looks very much like an isolated event," a WHO official said. "He was traveling to Singapore but he was asymptomatic while there and, according to data we have, patients are not contagious while asymptomatic."

Nevertheless, Singapore has quarantined 70 people who came in contact with the man

The 44-year-old man was a senior scientist studying SARS in Taipei at the state-sponsored Institute of Preventive Medicine, officials said. He tested positive for SARS on Dec. 17 after undergoing WHO-approved tests

The researcher developed SARS symptoms Dec. 10, the same day he returned home from Singapore. But officials believed he was exposed to the virus in his lab, as early as Dec. 5.

台湾で新たな SARS 感染者

台湾衛生署（衛生省）は17日、男性医学研究者（44）の新型肺炎「重症急性呼吸器症候群」（SARS）感染が確認されたと発表した。

Shukan ST: Dec. 26, 2003

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