Singapore confirms new Sars case

Singapore said yesterday tests had shown a 27-year-old medical researcher had Sars in what could be the world's first case since a global outbreak was declared over in July.

But the UN's World Health Organisation said the case did not fit the WHO definition of the disease under its new guidelines and would not pose a public health emergency.

Singapore will send the samples of the man's tissue to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention for further tests.

"From the public health perspective, this does not seem to be an emergency," Dick Thompson of the UN agency's communicable diseases division told Reuters in Geneva. "We have rigid case definitions for Sars, and this person does not qualify."

After originating in southern China, Sars was spread to 30 countries by travellers early this year. It infected nearly 8,500 people globally. More than 800 died, including 33 in Singapore, where the government imposed strict health controls.

Singapore's health ministry said the sick man, a post-doctoral student working on the West Nile virus at National University of Singapore, posed only a "low public health risk" because he was isolated quickly.

Twenty-five people who had contact with him had been quarantined.

Hong Kong and Canada suffered Sars scares in July and August, but both were eventually declared free of the virus.

Earlier yesterday, WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said there should be no surprise if there were other alerts similar to the Singapore case in coming weeks as the Northern Hemisphere moves into the autumn and winter pneumonia season.

The WHO declared the outbreak contained worldwide on July 5 and took Singapore off its list of Sars-affected regions on May 31, about three weeks after its last patient was isolated.

Apart from China, which was worst hit in the initial outbreak, Canada and Taiwan also had many cases, including deaths, and Sars travelled to the United States and Australia.

China said yesterday it had no new cases of the virus and was working to prevent the disease from recurring.

Authorities believe Sars is caused by a type of coronavirus, a relative of the common cold, which spreads like flu viruses through infected droplets. The virus is believed to have jumped from animals to humans in China late last year.