The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday reported the first mass infection of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, after seven staff members at Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital came down with symptoms of the disease.
An intern at the hospital was also thought to have contracted the disease.
"The seven hospital staff who came down with the disease include a doctor, two nurses, two laundry workers, an administrator and an X-ray technician," said Lee Lung-teng (李龍騰), deputy director-general of the DOH.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Two patients at the hospital are also suspected of having contracted the disease.
Yesterday evening, Yang Ker-ping (
She said the school would be closed for 10 days.
The DOH said a task force had been formed to trace the origin of the infection, which was discovered at around midnight on Tuesday.
Lee, however, said that the mass infection at the hospital was different from community spread of SARS. The DOH has imposed quarantine measures on the staff and their relatives, Lee said.
The DOH is investigating whether a 37-year-old male patient in the hospital could be the index patient in the latest infections.
"The patient was first diagnosed with cellulitis and later developed pneumonia. However, his contact history and travel history show no links to SARS cases," Lee said.
The patient has been transferred to National Taiwan University Hospital. Lee said the patient's long-term drug addiction had led to the weakening of his immune system.
"Therefore, his coughing and fever symptoms were not very obvious," he said.
Lee said the doctor tending to him was infected perhaps because it was difficult to detect the patient's SARS-like symptoms among his other ailments.
The other patient thought to have been infected with SARS at the hospital was an 82-year-old man.
"He was admitted to the same ward as the first patient. But when he was sent to the hospital, he did not have pneumonia," he said.
Lee said six out of the nine cases at the hospital had been listed as probable SARS cases.
After these cases were reported, the DOH and Taipei City's Health Bureau formed a joint team consisting of clinical experts, epidemiologists and health officials to investigate the mass infection.
Wu Kang-wen (
When asked whether the hospital's two laundry workers were infected when washing the patients' bed sheets or clothing, Wu said no clear explanation was available yet.
"We are still investigating the transmission routes of the infection," Wu said.
The DOH has imposed stringent measures to curb further spread of SARS in the hospital.
The measures include an overall disinfection of the hospital building and the suspension of the hospital's emergency services.
Chiou Shu-ti (
"The patients already staying in the hospital will not be moved. But their health conditions need to be tracked for two weeks after they are discharged," Chiou said.
"The hospital will not receive new inpatients for two weeks. Whether the period should be extended depends on whether the hospital's outbreak can be contained," she said.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary