SARS Gets Loose in the Lab

During the height of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic last spring, researchers emphasized that basic infection control and personal responsibility were vital to check the spread of the disease. Maybe they should have taken their own prescription. The latest SARS patient, a medical researcher and lieutenant colonel in Taiwan's army surnamed Chan, apparently contracted the disease in a SARS research lab on Dec. 6. Authorities in Taiwan believe Chan was in a rush to catch a plane to Singapore for a medical conference and hurriedly cleaned up a spill in his lab from a leaky waste bag. Chan told investigators that he thought the spill was safe because it was several days old and therefore any virus in it should have died. Not exactly a spit-and-polish operation.

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Chan didn't develop any SARS symptoms until after returning from his trip, and when he did, he reportedly refused to go to a hospital—until his father threatened to commit suicide if he didn't. Last week Singapore briefly placed under home quarantine 70 people who might have been exposed to Chan during his four-day visit to the city-state. Passengers sitting near Chan on the two flights were also contacted and quarantined in Hong Kong and the U.S. "Lab accidents do happen," says Dr. Richard Brown, a member of the SARS outbreak team at the WHO's office in Manila. "To some extent it's an occupational hazard." Researchers still don't know what turns some SARS patients into superspreaders, but Asia is lucky that Chan's infection appears to be an isolated case.