Taiwan - clear of SARS

Main Category: Flu / Cold / SARS
Article Date: 26 Dec 2003 - 0:00 PDT

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Taiwan cleared of SARS infections: official

Taiwan's health authorities have announced the island has been cleared of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) infections after the last two people who had contact with the only SARS patient were removed from a watchlist.

The two - the wife and father of the patient, a military laboratory researcher - were taken off the watchlist after passing two weeks without showing symptoms of SARS, the Centre for Disease Control said.

'It is safe to say that Taiwan is now cleared of SARS, but we will continue to monitor the situation for one more week,' Centre deputy director Shih Wen-yi said.

He said Taiwan would be officially declared SARS-free on December 31.

The patient, a 44-year-old army lieutenant colonel surnamed Chan, was expected to be discharged from the Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital 'soon', possibly before the 31st, Mr Shih said.

'Chan has not had a fever for eight straight days nor has he displayed other signs of pneumonia,' he said.

Mr Chan is believed to have caught the virus while cleaning a contaminated transporter at the Institute of Preventive Medicine of the National Defence Medical Centre on December 6.

He had developed a fever the day he returned from a December 7-10 trip to Singapore where he attended a seminar with five colleagues.

Mr Chan was confirmed a SARS victim on December 17, in the first such case since Taiwan was declared SARS-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO) five months ago.

In Taiwan, 34 people who had had close contact with him, including family members, colleagues and people who had sat near him on the plane, were asked to monitor themselves for fever, an early symptom of SARS.

Singapore authorities had also placed 74 people under quarantine.

The orders were lifted on December 20 after none was diagnosed with SARS in the city-state.

SARS triggered a worldwide health crisis after emerging in China's southern Guangdong province in November last year, causing 774 deaths from more than 8,000 infections, the vast majority in Asia.

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