http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3333775.stm

A Taiwanese man infected with Sars delayed seeking treatment because
he feared bringing "shame" on Taiwan, his father said on Friday. The
man, a 44-year-old military scientist identified as Lieutenant Colonel
Chan, is now stable.

But his father told CTI cable TV that his son: "wanted to die at home
because he feared his illness would bring shame to his lab and the
country". Lt Col Chan is Taiwan's first Sars victim in five months.

He is believed to have contracted the virus in a laboratory accident
two weeks ago, before a visit to Singapore. About 75 people in
Singapore and about 35 in Taiwan, who came into contact with him, are
being monitored, but none has shown signs of Sars.

According to his father, Lt Col Chan recognised that he had the
symptoms of Sars and stayed at home while his father nursed him. "He
finally agreed to go to the hospital after I threatened to kill
myself," his father said.

"He was thinking of the country. He's a military man, and military men
are bound by a natural duty," his father said.

Earlier, Taiwanese officials said the man had possibly been negligent
in following safety procedures and may not have worn proper gloves or
a medical gown while handling the Sars samples.

The man is the first person to contract Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (Sars) since the island was declared free of the disease in
July. A total of 84 people died in Taiwan earlier this year during the
deadly Sars outbreak, according to figures from the World Health
Organisation.

Sars has killed over 800 people in the last year and infected 8,000
more.

By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer

TAIPEI, Taiwan - Taiwan's first SARS (news - web sites) case in five
months raised serious questions Wednesday about how carefully
laboratories are handling the virus. The infected scientist ignored
safety guidelines and waited six days before going to a hospital ?
even though he had a fever.

Fears about the virus increased Thursday as Taiwanese health
authorities revealed that two colleagues who had had close contact
with the scientist are now in the United States. Singapore and Taiwan
ordered 95 people into quarantine, including 19 people who had been on
an airline flight with the man.

Separately in China, authorities have ordered all researchers to hand
in SARS samples as a precaution.

China's Health Ministry told laboratories to send samples to
"designated places for storage" and "demanded that all regions
strengthen management of the SARS virus," the official Xinhua News
Agency said. It didn't say what laboratories would be affected or how
many.

China suffered 349 deaths on its mainland from the SARS outbreak,
which is believed to have started in the southern Guangdong province.
More than 5,000 people were sickened.

The infected man, a 44-year-old Taiwanese researcher, had been
studying SARS in the island's only "P4 laboratory" ? a facility
designed for the world's deadliest viruses.

Even though SARS is highly contagious, the scientist didn't wear a
gown and protective gloves ? basic safety gear required by World
Health Organization (news - web sites) guidelines, said Dr. Shigeru
Omi, the WHO's Western Pacific regional director.

"It's a very high-standard laboratory which requires a very strict
procedure, but nonetheless he did not wear the gowns and the gloves,"
Omi told reporters in Manila, Philippines.

Officials suspect the scientist was exposed to the virus Dec. 5 when
cleaning up contaminated liquid in his lab at the state (news - web
sites)-funded Institute of Preventive Medicine in Taipei, said Su
Ih-jen, chief of Taiwan's Center for Disease Control.

"He was in a hurry to get ready for a conference in Singapore, so he
was rushing to finish his disinfection work and was careless," Su
said.

The scientist had no SARS symptoms when he left for Singapore on Dec.
7, officials said. But hours after his return to Taiwan on Dec. 10, he
developed a fever ? a key SARS symptom.

Su said he doubted the researcher infected anyone in Singapore or on
the China Airlines flight home because he was asymptomatic at that
point and not contagious. SARS patients usually start infecting others
when they develop a fever, he said.

But Shih Wen-yi, a spokesman for the disease control center, said
officials were having difficulty contacting three Americans, a
Japanese and a Singaporean who had been on the flight.

Top health officials sought to ease fears that the highly contagious
virus would spread. "It looks very much like an isolated event," WHO
spokeswoman Maria Cheng said.

Still, Singapore quarantined 70 people who had been in close contact
with the scientist. Another 22 were put into isolation in Taiwan.

Two colleagues went to Singapore with the researcher on Dec. 7 and
later traveled to the United States, Shih said earlier.

Shih did not say where the colleagues were staying in the United
States, but said they planned to return to Taiwan on Friday.

Two other colleagues who traveled with the SARS patient have been
quarantined, Shih said.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome infected 8,098 people worldwide and
killed 774 after it was first detected a year ago. Taiwan ranked No. 3
on the global list for deaths and cases, behind China and Hong Kong.

One troubling detail about Taiwan's new case was that the scientist
waited until Tuesday night ? six days after developing a fever ?
before going to a Taipei hospital for tests. By the time he went to
the hospital, he had developed other SARS symptoms, such as a cough
and signs of pneumonia.

SARS was immediately suspected, and confirmed by genetic tests.

The scientist ? whose name was not made public ? wasn't available for
comment Wednesday. Possible disciplinary measures weren't discussed,
officials said.

Authorities said the scientist properly quarantined himself at home
after he developed SARS symptoms Dec. 10. So far, the man's wife, two
children and father haven't developed fevers.

It was the second SARS case in Asia related to a laboratory ? the
first was in Singapore in August. That case was the world's first
known infection since the WHO declared SARS under control last July.

A WHO-led panel of investigators blamed "inappropriate safety
procedures" in handling the virus at the Singapore lab, which no
longer handles the SARS virus.

Henk Bekedam, the WHO representative in China, told reporters in
Beijing that the case in Taiwan should alert scientists.

"It's a clear reminder again that we have to be extremely cautious
working (news - web sites) with the SARS corona virus and there are
whole issues about whoever in the whole world is keeping a SARS
specimen has to be very careful in dealing with this," he said.