SARS: Back in 2003?
No, not really. As I read the story, this is a researcher who got sloppy in the lab. He could still generate an outbreak but this is not SARS in the “wild”, just stupidity. AGAIN! Hard to understand the constant carelessness on the part of people working with this illness.
| SFgate Two colleagues who had close contact with Taiwan’s SARS-infected scientist are now in the United States, a health official said Thursday, as about 90 people in two countries were placed in quarantine. Singapore has ordered about 70 people to stay in isolation as a precaution, as were 22 people in Taiwan. Only the scientist has so far shown signs of the disease. The man’s 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. The 44-year-old researcher who was infected was studying SARS at a state-funded laboratory in Taipei. A total of 22 people who had contact with the researcher have been ordered into quarantine in Taiwan, Shih said. Those quarantined included 18 passengers who were on the China Airlines flight with the patient when he returned from Singapore on Dec. 10, he said. Five of those passengers were foreigners, and officials are having difficulty contacting them, said Shih, who didn’t provide the passengers’ nationalities. Officials have said the SARS patient was not showing symptoms during his travels, so it was unlikely that he infected others. ‘2003 Associated Press |
UPDATE:
Yahoo news
TAIPEI, Taiwan - A torn plastic trash bag that leaked liquid contaminated with the SARS (news - web sites) virus was the likely cause of Taiwan’s first infection in five months, investigators said Friday. The bag was handled by the 44-year-old scientist who apparently became infected in his military laboratory while studying how Chinese medicinal herbs affect the highly contagious virus, investigator Chang Shang-tsun said at a news conference. Chang declined to say whether the laboratory was properly run by the scientist, identified only by his rank and surname, Lt. Col. Chan. The investigation results were preliminary and the researcher will be questioned further once he recovers, he said. “You can’t blame him. His workload was very heavy,” Chang said. The mishap happened when the scientist was cleaning his Taipei lab on Dec. 6 ‘ four days before he developed a fever and other SARS symptoms, said Chang, an official at National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei. When the scientist found the ripped bag, he assumed it had been leaking for several days and he placed it on a trash cart, Chang said. “The investigators think the researcher thought the virus had already lost its effectiveness,” Chang said. Two positive samples of the virus were found in the lab during an inspection Thursday, he said. One was on the handle of an alcohol spray bottle, and the other was on a light switch on a glass cabinet that contained materials used in experiments. Chang said investigators still have to ask the scientist whether he was wearing protective gloves and a gown. But he added that Chan’s lab was designed so that researchers do not have to wear such safety gear constantly.
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! HOW STUPID ARE THESE PEOPLE?
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