Researcher Tests Positive for SARS

Taiwanese officials said a medical researcher has tested positive for SARS, the island’s first case since July. The patient is a 44-year-old man who had been studying SARS at the National Defense University, health officials said.

“Right now, he’s the only one who’s been infected,” Health Minister Chen Chien-jen said at a news conference. The researcher attended a conference in Singapore on Dec. 7 and developed a fever Dec. 10 after returning to Taiwan, officials said. Thirty-seven people have died of SARS on the island.