A laboratory with China's national disease control and
prevention center was found to be the source of the outbreak of
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) during April and May of
this year, health officials said
Thursday.??
Addressing a meeting held by the Ministry of Health at Chinese
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, health officials said
investigation by the ministry in cooperation with the Ministry of
Sciences and Technology determined laboratory infection was to
blame for the outbreak. Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi was present at
the meeting.
Officials said poor lab safety management and irregular
operations by professionals resulted in the pollution of a
laboratory and SARS virus infection of some lab staff members,
which constitutes a major accident due to negligence.
The Diarrhea Virus Laboratory under the Institute of Virus
Diseases of the center was found to have conducted SARS virus
research adopting untested methods to kill the virus in an ordinary
lab, according to the report.
The lab failed to report to higher authorities the fact when
unusual health conditions were detected among some of their staff
members, it said.
The Ministry of Health has decided to accept the resignation of
the director and a vice director of the center.
It also decided to remove the director and a vice director of
the institute and head of the Diarrhea Virus Laboratory from their
offices.
Vice Premier Wu Yi told the meeting, which was attended by staff
members of the center, that the accident caused harm to the health
of people and damage to the social and economic development.
Handling of the accident reflects the responsibility of the
Party and the central government and the importance they attached
to the health and safety of scientific researchers, said Wu.
Efforts should be made to prevent it from happening again, she
said.
Wu said China would step up its efforts to formulate laws and
regulations on laboratory bio-safety, and improve work conditions
for researchers to protect their health and safety and prevent the
spread of disease.
Sources with the ministry said those health officials punished
include Li Liming, who was director of the Chinese Center for
Disease Control and Prevention.
A total of nine people were confirmed as SARS patients during
April and May. The nine cases included two from Anhui
Province, east China and seven from Beijing.
Beijing reported China's first suspected SARS case of this year
on April 22 and the patient surnamed Li and a 26 year-old girl
surnamed Song were declared diagnosed SARS patients the next
day.
Li apparently caught the disease when taking care of
hospitalized Song during March 29 and April 2 at Beijing-based
Jiangong Hospital. Song's mother who also looked after the student
at the same hospital died of SARS.
Song, a medical student from Anhui Medical University, was then
presumed to have contracted the disease when serving as an intern
at the Beijing-based Institute of Virus Diseases under the center
from March 7 to 22.
A medical researcher surnamed Yang, 31, with the institute was
reported as a suspected case of SARS on April 23.
The outbreak had been contained by May 22 after one diagnosed
SARS patient died and eight others recovered and were discharged
from hospital before May 22.
Soon after the eruption of the disease, an expert team was set
up consisting of members from China's Academy of Military Medical
Sciences, and Beijing and national disease prevention and control
centers.
The team has made epidemiological investigations into the two
cases and interviewed all the staff working at the laboratory of
Virology Institute, the ministry said.
A total of 5,327 cases of SARS were reported in 2003 in 24
provincial areas on the mainland, including 349 deaths. The disease
was under control in mid August of that year.
(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2004)