The Council of Agriculture (COA) has tested more than 160 civet cats and found that none of them are infected with the virus that causes SARS, the Cabinet-level council said yesterday.
The council announced the results of the tests after China ordered the slaughter of 10,000 civet cats and related species in the wildlife markets in Guangdong Province a day earlier because a man in the region has been confirmed to have contracted SARS.
The COA's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said Taiwan's civet cats are bred on local ranches and are not wild.
After the SARS outbreak last spring, the bureau conducted spot checks on a number of the weasel-like mammals. All of them tested negative, the bureau said.
Su Ih-jen (
The CDC yesterday stepped up anti-SARS measures for passengers arriving from Guangdong Province.
In addition to continuing temperature checks for passengers arriving from China, Hong Kong and Macau, on Friday Taiwan will begin asking passengers arriving from Guangdong to fill out health forms at airports, the CDC announced.
"They must answer if they have eaten or come into contact with wild animals, particularly civet cats," the CDC said.
"If passengers from China, Hong Kong and Macau are running a fever, they will be sent to the hospital and asked to explain where they have been and whom they have come into contact with. Local health authorities must be notified," the CDC said in a statement.
The heightened measures are to be in effect for at least one month.
The CDC also advised people from Taiwan to postpone trips to China -- particularly to Guangdong Province -- for the next month.
On Monday, the World Health Organization confirmed that a 32-year-old Guangdong television producer -- who has been hospitalized since Dec. 20 -- had contracted SARS.
Su told reporters that officials were worried that the animals in Guangdong's markets might be infected with SARS and could pass the virus on to people.
Su said that officials were especially worried about China's latest outbreak, because it comes as thousands of Taiwanese working in China are preparing to return home for the Lunar New Year.
The weeklong holiday, which begins on Jan. 22 this year, is the biggest annual celebration in ethnic Chinese societies.
Su called on China to disclose more of its research findings and inform people about what animals in addition to the civet cat might carry the SARS virus.
When China's SARS outbreak became serious last year, Taiwan quarantined all travelers returning from China even if they didn't show SARS symptoms.
Yesterday, Su said Taiwan wasn't ready to take such strict precautions yet. "We will not isolate any visitors who don't have a fever," he said.
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