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China Seals Off SARS Research Lab After Virus Escapes

Posted on: Saturday, 24 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

By AUDRA ANG

BEIJING (AP) -- China said Saturday it has sealed off a SARS research lab in its capital after two lab workers contracted the disease and the mother of one died - the world's first such death this year.

A nurse who looked after one of the SARS-infected lab workers is suspected to have caught SARS and is also in isolation, officials said.

The lab infections "are an embarrassment to China," said World Health Organization spokesman Bob Dietz, in Beijing. "It's not good that this happened in the lab. It's not good that the health of these people was apparently not monitored."

He said the cases nonetheless showed that SARS is "not out in the public. The ground zero has been identified."

Last year's SARS outbreak triggered a global health crisis, killing 774 people around the world and infecting more than 8,000. China reported 349 deaths, the last one in July - before the latest case.

A virus control institute, part of China's Centers for Disease Control was ordered sealed off, which means people cannot go in or out, state media reported.

"Yes, it has been sealed off," said a woman at China's SARS hotline who refused to give her name. Calls to the disease control center rang unanswered.

Last year's SARS outbreak triggered a global health crisis, killing 774 people around the world and injecting more than 8,000. China reported 349 deaths, the last one in July - before the latest cases.

SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, first emerged in southern China in November 2002.

China on Saturday was screening thousands of travelers for fevers at airports and train stations in a massive effort to block a new outbreak of SARS. Hundreds of people with possible exposure to the SARS virus were being held under medical observation.

The government on Friday confirmed that two laboratory employees had the disease and listed a nurse as a suspected case.

The lab workers were identified as a 31-year-old man from Beijing and a 26-year-old woman from central Anhui province - both employees of China's Centers for Disease Control in Beijing. The 20-year-old nurse works in a Beijing hospital.

The fatality was the mother of the woman from Anhui, and was believed to have caught the virus from her daughter, the government said. The daughter was treated last month at a Beijing hospital, where she came into contact with the nurse.

"When the daughter was ill, the mother accompanied her all the time," the Health Ministry said on its Web site.

The mother, hospitalized April 8 with a fever and unidentified virus, died Monday and was cremated, the ministry said. A fever is one of the key symptoms of SARS, along with coughing and shortness of breath.

The ministry said the mother had a heart problem, although it wasn't clear whether that was related to her death.

Medical workers monitor a suspected SARS patient at Ditan Hospital in Beijing. Credit: AP

Taiwanese tourists don masks during a visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing. Credit: AP

The women took several train journeys together between Beijing and Anhui and might have exposed many other people to the virus, said Maria Cheng, a World Health Organization spokeswoman in Geneva.

Hospitals along the rail line have been put on alert to report any cases of pneumonia, she said.

"Here it looks like we had human-to-human transmission and there's clearly a travel history where they might have exposed other people," Cheng said.

The WHO is considering sending a team of experts to China to help officials there to trace the women's movements over the past few weeks, she said.

When the SARS outbreak was at its peak last year, Beijing was the hardest-hit city in the world. Schools, cinemas and restaurants were shuttered to prevent the spread the virus through crowded areas. Thousands of people were quarantined in their homes.

On Friday, the ministry said 117 people were quarantined in Anhui and one person apparently had fever - a key symptom. In Beijing, 188 people were quarantined and five reportedly had fevers.

At Ditan Hospital, a Beijing facility specializing in communicable diseases, 52 patients were relocated to make room for possible cases, said Fan Yinglong, an official from the city government.

"This is a preventive measure taken by the hospital based on the city's contingency plan," Fan said.

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On the Net:

World Health Organization

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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