News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials took pains to assure the public today that the risk of contamination in the US beef supply is very low following yesterday's announcement that the nation's first apparent case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, had turned up in Washington state.

(CIDRAP News) – No more SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) cases have cropped up in the wake of the single case reported in Taiwan last week, and quarantine or self-monitoring orders for most of the patient's contacts have been lifted.

(CIDRAP News) – A Taiwanese scientist has contracted SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), probably while studying the SARS coronavirus in a laboratory, the Taiwan Department of Health reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – An international review panel has concluded that the Singapore man who had the world's first new SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) case since the end of the outbreak probably acquired the virus in a government laboratory where he worked, the Singapore Ministry of Health announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – A Singapore man who tested positive for SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) is doing well and will probably be released from a hospital to home quarantine this week, the Singapore Ministry of Health said today.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO), while not dismissing the report of a SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) case in Singapore, said today the case is not a major concern.

(CIDRAP News) – A 27-year-old Singapore man has twice tested positive for SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and is regarded as having a probable case, even though the case doesn't meet the World Health Organization (WHO) definition, the Singapore Ministry of Health said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Available diagnostic tests for SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) are not sensitive enough to reliably detect the SARS virus in the first few days of illness, a limitation that makes the disease harder to control, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today lifted its recommendation against travel to Hong Kong and China's Guangdong province, signaling that the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak is declining in its original strongholds.

Both places have fewer than 60 patients who are still infectious, and the average number of new cases per day has hovered at less than five in recent days, WHO officials said in a news release.

(CIDRAP News) – A hospital laundry worker in Taiwan who was sick for 6 days before he was recognized as having SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) may have exposed more than 10,000 people to the disease and helped derail Taiwan's previously effective containment effort, according to US health officials.