SARS in Hospital Emergency Room

摘要

Thirty-one cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) occurred after exposure in the emergency room atthe National Taiwan University Hospital. The index patientwas linked to an outbreak at a nearby municipal hospital.Three clusters were identified over a 3-week period. Thefirst cluster (5 patients) and the second cluster (14 patients)occurred among patients, family members, and nursingaids. The third cluster (12 patients) occurred exclusivelyamong healthcare workers. Six healthcare workers hadclose contact with SARS patients. Six others, with differentworking patterns, indicated that they did not have contactwith a SARS patient. Environmental surveys found 9 of 119samples of inanimate objects to be positive for SARS coro-navirus RNA. These observations indicate that althoughtransmission by direct contact with known SARS patientswas responsible for most cases, environmental contamina-tion with the SARS coronavirus may have lead to infectionamong healthcare workers without documented contactwith known hospitalized SARS patients