Recent SARS outbreak blamed on lab technician

A laboratory technician working for China's national disease control and prevention center has been blamed for the recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) earlier this year.

Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi addressing a meeting on the issue 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.

The Vice-Premier went on to say that the accident, not only impaired people's health, but also had caused a detrimental effect on the economy.

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 accepted the resignation of the director and a vice-director of China's national disease control and prevention center.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is an atypical form of pneumonia that first appeared in November 2002 in Guangdong Province, China.

After the People's Republic of China suppressed all news of the outbreak both internally and abroad, it spread rapidly, reaching neighboring Hong Kong and Vietnam in late February 2003, and then to other countries via international travel of infected persons.