The Department of Health yesterday "initially excluded" a 12-year-old girl as having contracted SARS after all the tests conducted on her appeared to be negative.
The department's report of a "highly suspicious" SARS case imported from Shanghai late Wednesday night triggered public fears of a re-emergence of the deadly disease.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) spent a hectic day hurrying to finish both SARS and flu tests on the girl yesterday.
Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁), director-general of the CDC, said the girl was likely to have been infected by bacteria.
"The CDC tested the girl's blood and throat samples. It also conducted three other SARS-related tests on her. All the results were negative," Su said.
Su added that samples collected from the girl also tested negative for influenza A, B and C.
"The CDC took the girl's excrement for further tests because tests on excrement appear to be more SARS-sensitive than those done on blood and throat samples," Su said.
The CDC will today formally confirm whether the girl was a SARS case, Su said.
The girl, surnamed Chen, is the daughter of a Taiwanese businessman based in Shanghai. She returned to Taiwan on July 5, the day the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Taiwan free from SARS.
She did not have a fever upon arrival in Taiwan. On July 7, she developed a fever and her mother brought her to a private clinic in Taipei. The clinic administered anti-fever drugs on her and her fever subsided.
However, her fever returned on July 15. The girl was again brought to a private clinic, which gave her a similar treatment to the previous one and her fever subsided temporarily.
When the girl developed a fever for the third time on July 17, her family was alarmed and brought her to National Taiwan University Hospital. At that time, the girl was coughing and X-rays showed whitening of her right lung.
The hospital's lab conducted a blood test and the result was mildly positive. The hospital suspected the girl might be infected with SARS and reported the case to the Department of Health on Wednesday at noon.
"The girl was admitted to the university hospital on July 18. The hospital gave her antibiotics and her fever completely subsided on July 21," Su said.
By yesterday, the girl had been fever-free for three days and her condition was stable, Su said.
The department's identification on Wednesday of the girl as a "highly suspected" SARS case led to the isolation of 30 people who had contact with the girl.
"Now we suggest the 30 people be freed from isolation. They only need to check their temperature twice a day for 10 days and immediately see a doctor if they develop SARS-like symptoms,'' Su said.
Although the public breathed a sigh of relief after the health department initially excluded the case, concerns about imported SARS cases from China were raised.
Although the WHO has declared all countries SARS-free, Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), director-general of the Department of Health, urged doctors to pay special attention to fever patients from once-affected areas.
Despite continuing temperature checks at the CKS International Airport and the establishment of fever points outside hospitals, the girl was not perceived as a potential SARS carrier until she arrived at the the university hospital.
Most of the 30 people isolated were health workers, according to the CDC.
A first shipment of five tons of Taiwan tilapia was sent from Tainan to Singapore on Wednesday, following an order valued at NT$600,000 (US$20,500) placed with a company in the city. The products, including frozen whole fish and pre- cooked fish belly, were dispatched from Jiangjun Fishing Harbor, where a new aquatic processing and logistics center is under construction. At the launch, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) called the move a “breakthrough,” marking Taiwan’s expansion into the Singaporean tilapia market. Taiwan’s tilapia exports have traditionally focused on the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, Huang said, adding that the new foothold in
An electric bus charging facility at Taipei Metro’s Beitou Depot officially opened yesterday with 22 charging bays to serve the city’s 886 electric buses. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) told a ceremony to mark the opening of the facility that the city aims to fully electrify its bus fleet by 2030. The number of electric buses has grown from about 650 last year to 886 this year and is expected to surpass 1,000 by the end of the year, Chiang said. Setting up the charging station in a metro depot optimizes land and energy use, as the metro uses power mainly during the
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
Traffic controls are to be in place in Taipei starting tonight, police said, as rallies supporting recall efforts targeting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers as well as a rally organized by the KMT opposing the recall campaigns are to take place tomorrow. Traffic controls are to be in place on City Hall Road starting from 10pm tonight and on Jinan Road Section 1 starting from 8am tomorrow, police said. Recall campaign groups in Taipei and New Taipei advocating for the recall of KMT legislators, along with the Safeguard Taiwan, Anti-Communist Alliance (反共護台聯盟), have previously announced plans for motorcycle parades and public
RSS