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Kinmen SARS report is another false alarm

"We've already performed two throat-swab tests ... The man does not have SARS."

Center for Disease Control Director Su Ih-jen

A SARS scare proved to be just that yesterday after preliminary tests confirmed a 79-year-old man hospitalized with fever after returning to Taiwan from a vacation in China had not been infected with the virus.

"While the man's symptoms cannot be completely discounted, we've already performed two throat-swab tests. Both indicated that the man does not have SARS," Center for Disease Control (CDC) Director Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁) said.

The man was said to be suffering from pneumonia, the cause of which was unknown.

Su said the CDC plans to confirm the results by taking samples in a second round of testing today before it completely clears him of contracting SARS.

CDC Deputy Director Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said during an emergency press conference yesterday afternoon that the man had been part of a tour group that visited China starting April 15. The group had been in Beijing from April 18 to April 20. It then left China via Xiamen. The man began exhibiting symptoms when he returned to Kinmen on April 24.

The man checked in to hospital with a fever yesterday morning. At press time yesterday the man remained in an isolation ward in Kinmen County Hospital. His fever has since subsided.

According to Su, 43 members of the 61-strong tour group have been located for testing. All of the tourists are in their 70s and are residents of Kinmen.

However, Shih said that none of the tour members reported that they had visited Beijing, as required by CDC entry regulations. In an effort to tighten surveillance, Shih said that from today, people arriving in Taiwan via the "small three links," which allow transportation between Kinmen and Fujian Province, would be required to perform personal health surveillance for 10 days and report on their progress to CDC officials. The officials will then make follow-up phone calls for a period of 10 days.

The CDC will not take punitive measures against the tour members, but warned travelers to be honest when reporting their itineraries.

Su said that in the period since China reported a resurgence of SARS, the CDC had identified five cases of fever in travelers returning from China.
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