Singapore, Sept 14: Samples from an ill Singapore researcher have tested positive for SARS at an American laboratory, confirming earlier results showing the man had the potentially deadly disease, a health ministry spokeswoman said today. The results of the tests by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were released at a charity event on Saturday, said the spokewoman, Bey Mui Leng.
The 27-year-old medical researcher had already tested positive for SARS in two local tests. The World Health Organization has said it appeared to be an isolated case and does not signal a new SARS epidemic. It is believed that the man caught SARS from live virus samples in one of two labs he worked in.
Singapore reported the case, its first in four months, on Monday, making the city-state the first country to announce a new victim since the who declared SARS under control in July. The infected man, whose name has not been released, is in isolation at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Communicable Diseases Center. He no longer has a fever and is said to be recovering well.
Twenty-five friends, colleagues and relatives of the man are under 10 days' compulsory home quarantine as a precaution.
Bey also said that one of two who officials arrived in Singapore on Saturday as part of a team that will review safety procedures at both labs to try and determine how the man caught the virus. Bureau Report