The Department of Health yesterday reported that a nurse from Taipei Veterans General Hospital suspected of being infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, has been quarantined.
Lee Lung-teng (
Lee admitted it is difficult to know how many patients the nurse has been in contact with.
The Taipei Hospital, which is directly supervised by the health department, also reported that six of its staff have been quarantined after treating a four-year-old girl suspected of carrying SARS.
The girl's aunt had been traveling in China and developed a fever after returning home, the hospital said. The girl was listed as a suspected case.
According to the health department, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) ruled out the girl as a SARS case.
Nevertheless, the CDC later decided to quarantine the staff -- three doctors and three nurses -- because it found the coronavirus, the causative agent of the disease, in the girl's feces.
The hospital said that so far the quarantined staff have not developed any SARS-like symptoms. The staff will be released from quarantine next Monday, the hospital said.
Lee said the number of hospital staff being reported as possible SARS cases has been increasing.
However, so far only one doctor -- from National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) -- has been listed as a "probable" case, according to the health department.
Meanwhile, the first two "probable" SARS cases reported in Taiwan, a China-based Taiwanese businessman and his wife, have recovered and were discharged from NTUH yesterday.
The hospital said supportive medication significantly contributed to the recovery of the couple. Their son, who was also infected with the disease, is still in the hospital.
Lee said although the couple agreed to his request to hold a press conference to tell of their experience fighting the disease, their relatives opposed such a move.
"But the NTUH still plans to hold a press conference for the couple and their son after their son has also recovered," Lee said.
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