The Department of Health (DOH) called for probable SARS carriers to be quarantined yesterday to contain the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
"When a patient visits the doctor and is suspected of having SARS, the doctor should take the patient's temperature. If the temperature is higher than 38 degrees centigrade, the patient should be quarantined," department Deputy Director-General Lee Lung-teng (
"If the doctor judges the patient to be a probable SARS case, the health authorities should be informed and the patient quarantined immediately. The patient's family should also be put under home quarantine for observation for 14 days."
In a bid to encourage the public to work more closely with the authorities to combat SARS, Lee said, a reward of NT$2,500 is being offered to people who report probable SARS cases.
Lee said that to get better medical test results, all patients' specimens will be tested in two labs. If one gives a positive result and the other negative, a patient's sample would be tested in a third lab.
Currently, labs at National Taiwan University, the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation and the Center for Disease Control's Kun-yang center are studying SARS.
The DOH also revealed two new probable cases yesterday: one American woman and one Taiwanese man.
The 23-year-old American went to Hong Kong early last month. She showed symptoms of SARS after returning to Taiwan. She was admitted to hospital on March 22 and released on March 26, according to the department.
Lee said antibiotics were administered and the doctor ruled her out as a possible SARS case because of her fast recovery. Only when lab results showed she was carrying coronavirus was she listed a probable SARS case.
The second case involves a 57-year-old man who went to Qingdao, China, via Hong Kong, in mid-March. He showed symptoms after his return and was admitted to hospital on April 1. He also tested positive for coronavirus. He has already recovered and has been released from hospital.
As of yesterday there were 162 cases of SARS reported in Taiwan: 29 probable cases, 44 suspected cases, six uncertain cases and 83 cleared cases.
Lab tests were conducted on 25 of the 29 probable cases, nine of which were found to have coronavirus.
The other 16 cases were coronavirus negative, but the DOH said this did not necessarily mean the patients were free of SARS.
RSS