The number of SARS cases in the country fell yesterday after six cases were reclassified, and National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) said it had developed a faster way of detecting antibodies to the disease.
With one new probable SARS case, the total stood at 679 yesterday, from 684 the day before. The number of deaths remained unchanged at 81.
The Department of Health(DOH) said it was significant for the country's bid to get the World Health Organization to lift its travel advisory on Taiwan that yesterday was the sixth day in a row there had been fewer that five new SARS cases.
The DOH yesterday also unveiled a new method of detecting SARS antibodies, called immunochromatography (ICT).
"With ICT, now it is much quicker and simpler to test whether a patient is infected with SARS," said Su Yi-jen (蘇益仁), director of the Center for Disease Control.
"It takes only 30 minutes to test whether a patient has the coronavirus," added Su.
Chen Pei-jer (
While less than 100 percent accurate, the new test detects SARS antibodies better than existing methods, Chen said.
Meanwhile, the DOH and National Taiwan University Medical School said yesterday that the source of the SARS outbreak at Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital did not originate from the Amoy Gardens Complex in Hong Kong.
It was thought that a woman named Tsao, who brought the disease to Hoping Hospital, contracted the disease from an Amoy resident surnamed Tseng while on a train to Taichung.
Tseng and the brother he was visiting in Taichung both died of the disease.
The medical school studied the virus' gene sequence and found that the specimen from Hoping Hospital was different from the one found at the Hong Kong apartment complex, which was linked to earlier cases in Taiwan.
"So far we still cannot nail down the source of the virus at Hoping," Chen said.
He said that Tseng, a Taiwanese businessman based in China called Chin who returned to Taiwan in March and NTUH doctor Tsai Tzu-Hsiu (蔡子修) had contracted the virus from a similar source. These cases were the first to be discovered in the country.
Cases found at Hoping Hospital, Jen Chi Hospital and a noodle vendor from Hsinchuang who was thought to have spread the disease at Mackay Hospital had a different source, Chen said.
The researchers said they didn't know whether knowledge of the gene sequence would help with treatment of the disease.
"We still don't know whether the sequences will tell us about how serious the disease is or whether the symptoms for every patient are the same, but we surely hope that this can help us to learn more about the epidemic and find better cures," said Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池), director of the Department of Internal Medicine at NTUH.
Also see story:
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS