S'pore confirms new SARS case; WHO has doubts

S'pore confirms new SARS case; WHO has doubts

Jason Szep, Reuters, Singapore

Singapore said on Tuesday tests had shown a 27-year-old medical researcher had Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), in what could be the world's first case since a global outbreak was declared over in July.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) said the case did not fit the WHO definition of the disease under its new guidelines and would not pose a public health emergency.

Singapore will send the samples of the man's tissue to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for further tests.

"From the public health perspective, this does not seem to be an emergency," Dick Thompson of the UN agency's communicable diseases division, told Reuters in Geneva. "We have rigid case definitions for SARS, and this person does not qualify."

Originating in southern China, SARS was spread to 30 countries by travelers early this year. It infected nearly 8,500 people globally. More than 800 died, including 33 in Singapore, where the government imposed strict health controls.

Singapore's health ministry said the sick man, a post-doctoral student studying the West Nile virus at National University of Singapore, posed only a "low public health risk".

Twenty-five people who had contact with him had been quarantined.

Singapore conducted two rounds of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests. These amplify genetic material and are key diagnostic tools in testing for SARS. But the tests are not always reliable.

"We have a patient who has fever, and we've done serology and PCR tests that were all positive," said Khaw Boon Wan, acting minister for health

"Regardless of what the WHO's definition is, I can't ignore the fact that this is a SARS case."

"I'm anticipating that the tests from the U.S. will be positive because both our tests have been positive. I'll bet on CDC results coming back positive."

It was unclear how the man caught the virus. He had worked at a laboratory that researches viruses including SARS, although was not one of the four people involved in SARS research.

"We do not think really that this person contracted the virus from the lab," said Daniel Wang, director general of public health at the National Environment Agency. The remaining 23 lab staff were healthy, he said.

The WHO declared the outbreak contained worldwide on July 5 and took Singapore off its list of SARS-affected regions on May 31, about three weeks after its last patient was isolated.

The government said late on Monday initial tests on the man showed positive for SARS. Singapore had been on edge on Tuesday, waiting for confirmation.

News of the case sparked alarm in Asia, where the last outbreak took a heavy economic toll as travelers cut flights and consumers stayed at home. SARS triggered the biggest quarterly contraction of Singapore's economy, in the April to June period.

It jolted Singapore's financial markets, shaving 2.6 percent off the bellwether Straits Times index in its biggest one-day drop since March 31.

Authorities believe SARS is caused by a type of coronavirus, a relative of the common cold, which spreads like flu viruses through infected droplets. The virus is believed to have jumped from animals to humans in China late last year.

The health ministry quarantined eight of the man's family members, along with two doctors, eight outpatients and three visitors to Singapore General Hospital. Four discharged patients were also isolated at home.

The man had checked into the accident and emergency department at Singapore General before being taken late on Monday to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, whose staff exclusively treated SARS patients during the last outbreak.